Thanksgiving is a holiday meant for gathering with family and thanking God for the lives we all have. Every family celebrates this holiday differently, with different highlights of the day. However, one highlight guaranteed to reach each and every family at least once on Thanksgiving Day is the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade! It is a tradition that New Yorkers know well and even if your family does not watch the whole thing in one sitting, it is usually playing in background while finishing up last minute cooking!

This year the parade celebrated its 71st year being done to celebrate this special holiday and help ring in the Christmas season! Photo Courtesy of NBC.com

This year, the parade began with an extravagant dance performance with some singers and famous actors. The performance also had a pre-recorded section with special guests, Whoopi Goldberg, Harry Connick Jr., and many more with appearances of special actors from the well-known shows This Is Us and Stranger Things. There also are marching bands, broadways shows and celebrities.  The day is filled with parade floats with all different kinds of themes with many different performances, there is always something everyone in the family will enjoy!

From the streets of Broadway came many exciting and new performances to introduce people to upcoming shows. Once on this Island gave an impressive performance with their mash-up of two popular songs from the show “Waiting for Life” and “Why We Tell the Story”. The performance by Spongebob the Musical certainly got people talking about their show; it was very well done with amazing costumes and characters anyone could pick out in a pinch. Anastasia gave a beautiful and dreamy rendition of Once Upon a December that was breathtaking to witness. Performing from their theaters was Come From Away and Waitress the Musical. Both casts performed songs that were not very well know from their shows which gave the audience a hint of what their show is about. And finally, of course there was an appearance of the Tony awarded best musical Dear Evan Hansen. It was performed by the new leading cast member, Noah Galvin, who replaced Ben Platt after Ben’s final show right before Thanksgiving.

From the world of Hollywood there were too many stars to count. One of the most impressive performances of the day was Angelica Hale singing “Girl on Fire” by Alicia Keys on the Sprout TV float. Angelica placed second in the most recent season of America’s Got Talent and her performance undoubtedly proved her impressive vocal skills! Other performances included Sabrina Carpenter, famous for her role as Maya Hart on Disney’s Girl Meets World singing her heart out on the Build A Bear float as well as Bebe Rexha who most recently is so well known for her collaboration with prior One Direction member Louis Tomlinson on is latest single “Back to You”. Another popular performer was Dance Moms star Jojo Siwa singing her latest single “Kids in a Candy Store”. There were stars for every child and every adult to sit back, sing along to and enjoy!

One of the best parts of the parade is the final performance right before Santa shows up, the Radio City Rockettes! It is a tradition for these women to perform at the end of the parade to signify Santa’s arrival to the streets of New York City! The Rockettes wore their costumes from their “12 Days of Christmas” tap routine and did their famous eye high kicks to their combination, “New York at Christmas”. They are a true sign that the Christmas season is on its way, and almost here! Then finally, Santa’s arrival truly showed that once Thanksgiving Day was over, Christmas was just beginning!

By:  Emily Ash’19, Co-Junior Editor-in-Chief