Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

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The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is an annual parade held every Thanksgiving Day in New York City. Originally called the Macy's Christmas Parade, it was first held in 1924 and has run continually since then, only missing three years due to rubber shortages during World War II. The two and a half mile parade features large balloons of well-known characters alongside floats and marching bands, ending with a float of Santa Claus upon his sleigh, marking the start of the Christmas season.
Since 1997, Nickelodeon has sponsored several balloons and floats in the parade over the years.
== History with the Macy's Parade==
The first network for kids made their first contribution to the parade in 1981, when the cast of "Pinwheel" performed on the Circus Wagon. The cast would appear again for the 1982 procession along with Christine McGlade from "You Can't Do That On Television".
In 1991, costumed characters Doug Funnie from “Doug”, Stimpy from “The Ren & Stimpy Show”, and Batley the Bat from “Eureeka's Castle” marched along the Parade route.
6 years later in 1997, a balloon in the likeness of the “Rugrats” made its debut. The balloon shows Tommy and Chuckie riding on their dog, Spike. They also became one of the seven giant balloons that year to make it through the whole parade route despite the heavy winds. In 2000, a French beret was put on Tommy's head to promote the second movie of the franchise, “Rugrats in Paris: The Movie”. They would make appearances until 2001 when they retired.
Two years later, in 1999, they would sponsor everyone's favorite dog with a clue, Blue from the hit educational children's show "Blue's Clues". Along with this, a Blue's Clues mini float would accompany the balloon that Steve Burns would ride in. Both of them made subsequent appearances until 2002, where they retired when the show was starting to decline in popularity. The Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper figures were displayed at the old parade studio, but it's unknown what happened to the others. In 2001 they appeared to promote “Clues Live! tour that ran from 1999 to 2005. That year the mini float had the actor who played Steve during the tour Roger Kraus. While in 2002 the mini float had Steve's brother Joe Burns. A decade later in 2019, she got a balloon based off the reboot, "Blue's Clues and You!". It featured a giant, sparkly inflatable of Blue herself, with the new host, Josh, performing on it. In 2021 Steve, Joe, and Josh appeared in a mini float to promote the 25th anniversary of Blue's Clues and Blue's Big City Adventure.
Two more years later, the boy genius Jimmy Neutron would take to the skies in 2001 to promote his movie "Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius", blasting down the streets of Manhattan in hopes of finding new discoveries. He made two more appearances in 2002 to promote his show "The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius" and 2003 before being retired. For a time the retired balloon could have been found in Balloonopolis from 2002 to 2007.
The following year in 2002, they brought in the first African-American balloon, of Bill Glover from "Little Bill" a show that was created by Bill Cosby. The balloon would wave to the crowd. In 2003, Nickelodeon hosted sweepstakes, with some of the prizes being a Thanksgiving getaway to New York, a Thanksgiving dinner, and tickets to the 2003 Parade. 
The company's next balloon would be of Bikini Bottom's optimistic underwater sea-dweller, SpongeBob SquarePants. He's had the most variants than any of their other characters and has become one of the longest-running characters in the parade's history. He first soaked up the crowd's admiration in 2004, and made appearances until 2006, but was brought back a year later in 2008, appearing more until 2012, when he retired because of his old age. The following year, he was given a new balloon showing him jumping in a Santa hat, debuting in 2013. He became Macy's Holiday Ambassador for the 2014 Parade, and plushies of him were sold at certain Macy's stores. In 2017 the cast of “The SpongeBob Musical” performed the song "Bikini Bottom Day". It was retired after 2018, and he got yet another balloon in 2019, where he's joined by his pet, Gary the Snail, which still makes appearances as of 2023.
Another year later would feature the young latino girl, Dora Márquez from “Dora the Explorer. She saw her first adventure in 2005, joined by Backpack and Map. She would continue until she retired in 2009. However, she got a float-based upon the special "Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure" in 2010. In 2012 the Dora float was accompanied by The Fresh Beat Band as a part of a cross promotion, the Dora float later retired in 2013. And the year after came a float of her spin-off show "Dora and Friends: Into the City", which retired that same year in 2014.
Then in 2012, a new float would feature the pizza-loving heroes in a half shell, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles based on their first Nickelodeon interpretation. It showed their hometown, with various telephone wires, billboards, buildings, and more scattered around it, and the ninja lair. The turtles themselves were also placed around the float. It retired shortly after 2017 due to the show ending and it was replaced by a new float based on the more modern show, "Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" in 2018, which put a new twist on the previous float with more stylized designing. The second float was retired after the 2020 Parade. 
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles made their first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade appearance in the 1990 Parade. The four heroes rode down Broadway in the iconic Euclid Beach Rocket Car, waving to the crowd as they promoted The “Coming Out Of Their Shells” Tour and their new film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret of the Ooze, which was released the following spring. The Ninja Turtles would once again make an appearance in the 1991 Macy's Parade, traveling down the Parade pipe in a pair of fancy red Cadillac convertibles. Positioned in each were two Ninja Turtles; one with Michaelangelo and Leonardo and one with Raphael and Donatello. The Ninja Turtles would later return to New York City for the 2005 Parade, walking on foot to 34th Street alongside the Keystone Kops & Robbers.
In 2017, a float was made of the show, “Shimmer and Shine”. It featured the two main protagonists, Shimmer and Shine, riding a magic carpet above their world, Zahramay Falls, with some other characters placed around the float. The float was retired shortly after the 2019 Parade due to the cancellation of the show in early 2020. That same year, a new balloon was made, of the police dog from the PAW Patrol, Chase. He's depicted with his pup pack ejecting a net, reminding us that "no job is too big, no pup is too small." He still appears in the parade as of 2023.
In 2021, Nickelodeon sponsored the Papa Smurf balloon. He was brought back to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the original Smurfs series, and for the promotion of the new 2021 reboot that aired on their channel. He appeared again in 2022 before being retired yet again.
In 2022, the Pinkfong Company partnered with Nickelodeon and Macy's to debut the iconic Baby Shark as a float and balloon combo.
Most recently in 2023, Nickelodeon and Macy's debuted two floats to promote new movies that Nickelodeon released. A third Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles float to promote “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem”, and a Good Burger (sketch) float to promote Good Burger 2.
==Nickelodeon-related units==
===Balloons===
*Rugrats (1997-2001)
*Blue (1999-2002, 2019-2022)
*Jimmy Neutron (2001-2003)
*Little Bill (2002-2004)
*SpongeBob SquarePants (2004-2006, 2008-2012, 2013-2018, 2019-present)
*Dora the Explorer (2005-2009)
*Chase (2017-present)
*Papa Smurf (2021-2022)
===Floats===
*Blue's Clues (1999-2002)
*Yo Gabba Gabba: There's a Party in My City! (2009)
*Dora's Christmas Carol (2010-2013)
*Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012-2017)
*Dora and Friends: Aventuras Fantasticas (2014)
*Shimmer and Shine (2017-2019)
*Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2018-2020)
*Blue's Clues and You! (2019-2022)
*Baby Shark (2022-present)
*Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023-present)
*The Burgermobile (2023-present)
==Notes==
*The Rugrats balloon was the parade's first three-character balloon, and the balloon that featured the most characters until the debut of the Trolls balloon in 2016.
*In 2000, to promote the release of Rugrats in Paris: The Movie, the Rugrats balloon was slightly modified to have Tommy wearing a beret.
*SpongeBob SquarePants is the only Nickelodeon character to get more than one balloon, with three variants in total - his normal form, one with a Santa hat, and one with Gary.
*The Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles float was the first element to be designed by Joseph Ammons, who would go on to become the design team lead for Macy's Parade Studio until May 2022.
==References in Nickelodeon media==
*In the Rugrats episode "The Turkey Who Came to Dinner", Angelica decides to throw her own Thanksgiving parade, saying "If Tracey can throw a Thanksgiving parade, whoever she is, so can I!"
*The Fairly OddParents storybook In a Tizzy Over Turkey opens with Timmy having just finished watching the parade on TV.
==Gallery==
Rugrats75thParade.jpg|Rugrats (1997)
20200805_150814.jpg|Blue (1999)
OriginalBlueFloat.jpg|Blue's Clues (1999)
20200805_150920.png|Jimmy Neutron (2001)
20200805 151040.jpg|Little Bill (2002)
SpongeBob2009.jpg|SpongeBob SquarePants (2004)
20200805 151009.jpg|Dora the Explorer (2005)
YGGFloat.jpg|Yo Gabba Gabba: There's a Party in My City! (2009)
OriginalDoraFloat.jpg|Dora's Christmas Carol (2010)
OriginalTMNTFloat.jpg|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012)
20200805 213941.jpg|SpongeBob SquarePants (2013)
ModernDoraFloat.jpg|Dora and Friends: Aventuras Fantasticas (2014)
SASFloat.jpg|Shimmer and Shine (2017)
20200805 214250.jpg|Chase from PAW Patrol (2017)
ModernTMNTFloat.jpg|Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2018)
20200805 214221.jpg|SpongeBob SquarePants (2019)
ModernBlueFloat.jpg|Blue's Clues and You! (2019)
==External links==
*Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Wiki
Category:Events