Thanksgiving Day was recently celebrated with great enthusiasm and excitement with "Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade," US national carnival, on November 26, according to International Business Times.
The parade, which is organized every year on the Thanksgiving Day, displayed floats, huge balloons and marching groups. It started from 77th Street and Central Park West and headed towards the Sixth Avenue. The last stop for the procession was Macy's departmental store, from which this tradition of celebration has started.
According to CNN, nearly 3.5 million people gathered on around 20 streets of New York, to watch the 89th year of the annual extravaganza. The live event was also aired on NBC channel, where Matt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie and Al Roker hosted the show.
"Felix the Cat" and "Mickey Mouse" has always been a part of the parade since its inception. The new addition to this year's parade were "Scrat" balloon, a squirrel from the movie "Ice Age" series, Angry Birds' game's character "Red," "Pikachu," and "SpongeBob SquarePants, reported Hollywood Life.
The parade's organizers took great efforts to make it a successful event. All the volunteers were trained for the procession day and night, before they actually performed on the main day.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the procession witnessed a tight security from the New York Police department for the safety of the onlookers, in accordance with the recent Paris attacks. There were cops all around the parade's location, heavily armed and ready to take action if needed and few undercover police officers mingled with the crowd. There were sniper teams on the rooftops to scan the nearby areas for any suspicious activities.
In Manhattan, police officers scanned all the streets through video surveillance drones. "We have access to so many cameras throughout the city that we can choose. If there's an event somewhere in the city, we can go right to that neighborhood," said James O'Neill, chief of operations, as quoted by CBS News.
The main attractions of the day, other than balloons, were performances from Panic! At the Disco, Mariah Carey and Quest Love. Thousands of cheerleaders, dancers, clowns and bands were present for the entertainment of the people.
