Crowds brave cold for Macy annual parade

At least 3 million paradegoers, many covered with quilts and blankets and tucked in sleeping bags, braved the cold to see New York City’s annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade roll through the city with giant character balloons, performers on floats and marching bands on Thursday.

“I came up from Florida for the parade,” said Harold Stankard, 43, who arrived with family and friends.

“It’s been awesome, at first we were a little nervous about how cold it was going to be, but it’s actually kind of fun to be a part of one of the coldest ones ever,” he said. “And there’s actually been clear skies and good crowds; it has been fun and we are having a good day.”

“We got hand warmers, gloves and earmuffs,” he added. “We are from Florida, so we had to be ready.”

The 92nd annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade kicked off on West 77th Street and Central Park West at 9 am. The low temperature of 19 degrees Fahrenheit reported by the National Weather Service on Thursday made the parade the second-coldest Thanksgiving Day in New York City’s history — the coldest since 1901.

Giant balloons of Charlie Brown, The Grinch, Olaf and Pikachu this year were floated at noticeably lower heights above the tether-holders because of the 15-to-20-mile-per-hour winds with gusts of more than 30 mph.

In addition to the balloons, the parade featured 8,000 marchers, performances from singers such as Diana Ross, John Legend and Martina McBride, two-dozen floats and a finale with a visit from Santa Claus.

Tight security was seen. According to New York City Police Commissioner James O’Neill, thousands of officers were stationed along the parade route. They included counterterrorism teams with long guns, plainclothes officers mixed in with the crowd and a new squad of K-9 dog teams that can sniff out explosives from hundreds of feet away.

Despite the frigid cold and strong winds, spectators, especially little kids, said they enjoyed the special experience.

Dylan Mahoney, who has come to the parade every year for the last dozen years, said he stayed warm by layering, including several pairs of socks.

“It’s one of the coldest,” he said, but “we’ve watched in the rain before.”

“I think today’s parade is one of the best parades I’ve seen in a really, really long time,” said Jaden, an 11-year-old-boy from West Virginia.

“We’ve been out since 6 o’clock this morning to get like standing seats and stuff. It’s a lot of fun and these experiences are just amazing,” he said.

He said it wasn’t the first time his family has come to New York for a parade. “This is probably the third parade I’ve been to,” he said.

“We watched a lot on TV, but this is the day when we came to New York to watch it,” said Jaden’s 8-year-old sister Kaylen. “And we wore a lot of layers.”

“Today is really, really cold,” said Hannah, an 8-year-old Chinese girl who came to the parade with her parents. “But it was really fun and I enjoyed the Olaf balloon the most.”

“It’s my first time to see the parade and I will definitely come again next year,” she said.

Debuting in 1924 to celebrate the expansion of the Macy’s department store in Manhattan, the parade was originally billed as a Christmas parade to kick off the holiday shopping season. The event also plays a prominent role in the classic 1947 Christmas movie Miracle on 34th Street.

The parade ran 46 blocks from West 77th street and Central Park West to Macy’s flagship store in midtown Manhattan.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.