Macy’s Unveils Lineup for 100th Thanksgiving Day Parade
Macy’s has unveiled the full lineup for the 100th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and the centenary edition will be the biggest the event has ever staged, with a record 100 inflatable elements filling the sky above Manhattan.
The parade steps off at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, 26 November, and will air live on NBC and Peacock in every time zone, with a Spanish-language broadcast on Telemundo and an encore at 2 p.m. Eastern and Pacific. More than 11,000 volunteers and participants will help bring the celebration to life, according to NBC’s parade guide.
Country star Megan Moroney and Grammy-nominated singer Teddy Swims will headline the musical programme with featured performances from Macy’s flagship Herald Square store, where the parade traditionally ends.
A star-packed bill for the centenary
The float performances read like a playlist spanning five decades. DEVO, the 1970s and 1980s new-wave band, will make its parade debut, alongside the Baha Men, Natasha Bedingfield, Blues Traveler, Feid, McKenna Grace, Icona Pop, Il Volo, the Indigo Girls, Jimmy Fallon and The Roots, JoJo, Wyclef Jean, Queen Latifah, Natalie Merchant, Jamie Miller, Ryan Peter Murphy, Leslie Odom Jr., Keke Palmer, Anthony Ramos, RIIZE and Smash Mouth.
EJAE, the voice behind “Golden” from the hit film KPop Demon Hunters, will give a featured performance of her own, while K-pop group RIIZE joins a bill that also includes a special tribute to the late country music legend Dolly Parton, led by Broadway star Megan Hilty. Special appearances will come from Melissa Joan Hart, Jack McBrayer, Janet McTeer, Holly Robinson Peete and Rodney Peete.
The parade will be hosted by three TODAY show figures, Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb and Al Roker. More performers, including Broadway acts, are still to be announced in the coming weeks, Macy’s said.
A record 100 inflatables
For its 100th edition, the parade will feature a record-breaking 100 inflatable elements, including giant character balloons, novelty inflatables and balloonicles. The new giant balloons are Bluey, Buckaroo Bob the Minion, Earl the Squirrel, Hello Kitty Big Apple, Joe Cool and Woodstock, Sorcerer’s Apprentice Mickey, Underdog and Billie Brightpaw, a new bear created by Macy’s Studios. A new balloonicle, Fuzzyeti’s Fur Wheel Drive, comes from Levi’s.
New floats include Dashing All the Way with DoorDash, Hogwarts Holiday with HBO, Mr. Peanut Power Plant with Planters, Purina Dog Chow Salute to Service Dogs, Road Trip to Parade with GEICO, and Macy’s Tony Sarg’s Amazing Marionettes.
A special Macy’s All Stars float will celebrate characters from the parade’s past, including Bugs Bunny, Bullwinkle J. Moose, Curious George, Popeye, Scooby-Doo, Sonic the Hedgehog and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The parade will also feature a selection of Macy’s Blue Sky Gallery balloons, showcasing the work of artists including Tim Burton, Keith Haring, Jeff Koons and Yayoi Kusama.
A century of Thanksgiving mornings
The first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade took place in 1924, when Macy’s employees marched from Harlem to the Herald Square store dressed as clowns, cowboys and knights, accompanied by live animals borrowed from the Central Park Zoo. The giant balloons that now define the event did not arrive until 1927.
A century on, the parade remains one of the most-watched events on American television, regularly drawing tens of millions of viewers on Thanksgiving morning. This year’s milestone arrives as the parade season gathers pace across the entertainment calendar, following the Coachella 2027 lineup announcement and ahead of the festive film season led by Johnny Depp’s Ebenezer at the box office.
Macy’s is marking the centenary beyond the parade route itself. A new documentary, “America’s Parade: 100 Years of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade”, will air on 20 November on NBC and begin streaming the next day on Peacock.
The 100th parade will close, as ever, with the arrival of Santa Claus, officially opening the Christmas season. For viewers, the details are simple: Thursday, 26 November, 8:30 a.m., on NBC and Peacock, with the full lineup set out in Macy’s official announcement.
