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Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Stars Balloons, Floats, Marching Bands, Jon Batiste, Cher, and Santa

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade 2023 is a New York City Thanksgiving tradition that is loved across America.

The Balloon Inflation is pretty marvelous too.

97th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade 2023

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Pillsbury Doughboy (Hoover Tung/Dreamstime)
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Pillsbury Doughboy (Hoover Tung/Dreamstime)

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade 2023 brings 31 floats, 25 balloons, Jon Batiste, Cher, and Santa Claus down Central Park West to Macy’s; on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 23, 2023, starting at 8:30am (a half hour earlier than usual). FREE.

Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb and Al Roker host the broadcast on NBC-4.

Parade Route

Public viewing is restricted by parade operations in many areas.

  • Central Park West at 77th St. Public viewing is from 75th to 61st St. (BEST)
  • Columbus Circle. No public viewing.
  • Central Park South
  • Sixth Avenue. Public viewing is from 59th to 38th St. (BEST)
  • 34th St to Macy’s Herald Square. No public viewing.

Viewers take the best spots by 6am. Easy on the coffee because there may not be rest rooms.

2023 Balloons

Highlights include 25 balloons, 6 ballooncicles, 31 floats, 11 marching bands, and nine performing groups.

Can you catch them all?

  1. Acorn
  2. Beagle Scout Snoopy celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Beagle Scouts in the Peanuts comic strip. (NEW)
  3. Blue Cat & Chugs (NEW)
  4. Bluey
  5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid®
  6. Goku
  7. Grogu™
  8. Ice Cream Cone
  9. Kung Fu Panda’s Po (NEW)
  10. Leo (NEW)
  11. Monkey D. Luffy from the “One Piece” manga. (NEW)
  12. Opening Macy’s Stars
  13. Paw Patrol®
  14. Pikachu™ & EeVee™
  15. Pumpkins
  16. Red Titan from Ryan’s World
  17. Ronald McDonald®
  18. Sinclair’s Dino®
  19. Smokey Bear
  20. Snow Crystal Ornaments
  21. SpongeBob Squarepants & Gary
  22. Stuart the Minion
  23. The Pillsbury Doughboy™ (NEW)
  24. TipToe
  25. Uncle Dan from the new movie “Migration” in theaters December 22. (NEW)

New Floats

  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem by Nickelodeon.

This year’s featured performers:

  • “& Juliet” Broadway cast.
  • “Back to the Future” Broadway cast
  • Brandy sings R&B.
  • Cher will perform just before Santa arrives. She just released her first new album in years, “Christmas.”
  • Chicago
  • Jessie James Decker
  • Jon Batiste was just nominated for six Grammys.
  • Manuel Turizo
  • Pentatonix

For more information, visit macys.com