A hallmark of the Thanksgiving holiday, along with turkey and football, is the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
The age-old tradition of gathering with family to watch as the floats and their guests travel through the Big Apple, ending with, of course, Santa Claus on his sleigh, is a must before the hard work of getting the day's feast ready begins.
But how do the parade's floats come to be? Well, it all starts in New Jersey, 12 to 16 months before the big day, according to Will Coss, the executive producer of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.
The design phase of the parade occurs at Macy's Studio in Moonachie, New Jersey, where the floats -- and balloons -- are put together using state-of-the-art technology.
The modern floats for the Thanksgiving Day parade include stunning displays and animatronics such as Tom Turkey.
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Once it is time for the floats to go to New York for the parade, they get packed down into the size of a school bus and transported by truck to the Upper West Side, Coss told NBC in 2022.
"We actually line up all of our parade elements into about 75 vehicles that convoy through New Jersey, down into the Lincoln Tunnel, and up to the Upper West Side where we build, rebuild, all of our elements for parade morning," Coss told NBC in 2022.
This year there will be several new floats, including "Camp Snoopy" and "The Deliciously Delectable World of Wonka."
The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade will air on NBC at 8:30 a.m. in all time zones and can be streamed live on Peacock.
