It is November again and the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is around the corner. This year, the parade will feature two newcomer balloons in Angry Birds’ Red and Scrat and his Acorn from the Ice Age animated movies. It will also reintroduce Ronald McDonald in its fourth version and Dino from Sinclair Oil in his second.
Over the years, there have been quite a few firsts and today, we would like to take a look at them. For instance, the first character to become a Macy’s Parade balloon was Felix the Cat all the way back in 1927. Over the next few years, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck joined the parade, as did The Marx Brothers. In 1938, it was time to prepare the country for the upcoming war and Uncle Sam made his first appearance.
In 1939, Superman showed up at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for the first time, although it was not the prettiest sight. Hello Kitty appeared at the parade in 1975 for the first time, something we were quite surprised to find out. In 1980, Superman was back and it is to this day the largest balloon ever to take place in the parade.
Believe it or not, it was not until 1982 that the first female character appeared in the parade (on her own) and it was Olive Oyl. In 1993, Sonic the Hedgehog made the history as the first video game character to take part in the parade. In 2005, Dora the Explorer became the first Latino character to appear and in 2006, the first balloon with light-up features appeared – Pikachu.
Who knows what the future holds for us and Macy’s Parade.
