Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

scroll down

One hundred years of balloons down 6th Avenue. One stay a few blocks east of it all.

On November 26, 2026, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade marks its 100th year.

A Parade Turning 100

The floats have changed. The route has shortened. But the finish line hasn't moved: Thanksgiving morning, thousands of people and a department store window on 34th Street that's been part of the ritual since 1924.

Hotel Park Ave NYC sits just a short walk from the route and a shorter one from Herald Square, where it all ends.

Plan Your Stay

The History of the Thanksgiving Day Parade

1924: Macy's employees, many of them first-generation immigrants, organized a parade modeled on the festivals they'd grown up with in Europe. It ran six miles, from 145th St in Harlem down to Herald Square and included live animals borrowed from the Central Park Zoo. It was called the Macy's Christmas Parade.

1927: The animals were retired in favor of balloons, Tom Turkey among the first. The event was renamed the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

1933: The parade had grown into one of the city's biggest annual gatherings, drawing crowds into the hundreds of thousands.

1945: The parade returned after the end of WWII and with it, a shorter route better suited to the crowds it now drew.

1947: Miracle on 34th Street used real parade footage, introducing the event to audiences who'd never set foot in New York.

1948: NBC broadcast the parade for the first time, beginning a run of national coverage that hasn't stopped.

2026: The 100th parade steps off from Central Park West, down 6th Ave, and into Herald Square, the same finish line it's had for a century.

Close to the Route, Closer to the Finish

The parade runs from 77th Street and Central Park West down to Columbus Circle, east along Central Park South, then south on 6th Avenue to 34th Street and Macy's Herald Square.

Hotel Park Ave NYC sits just a few blocks of the finish line, on the Park Avenue South side of NoMad. Far enough from the route that Thanksgiving morning doesn't mean fighting the whole city for a place to stand.

Good to Know

Streets along the route close early and stay closed through late morning. Guests planning to watch the parade are better off heading toward Herald Square on foot well before the 8:30am start, since crossing the route once it's closed isn't easy.

Getting to Herald Square from our hotel in Nomad:

About a 15-to-20-minute walk to Herald Square
A short subway ride on the 6 or N/R/W lines