Santa Claus at the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Photo by tweber1.

You have most likely been watching the Macy’s iconic Thanksgiving Day Parade since you were just a wee thing, but methinks there are many facts about the parade you do not know. So just so that your enjoyment level is set to high this coming turkey day, here is a list of fun facts you most likely had no idea about, and didn’t even know that you cared about, until now.

1. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was launched for the first time in 1924, making it the second oldest of them all.
2. The first few parades were called “Christmas Parades” even though they took place on Thanksgiving. Go figure.
3. The first parade featured camels, monkeys, elephants and bears from the Central Park Zoo.
4. From 1928 until 1932 it was easier to just let the giant balloons fly away then to take them down and deflate them, and that is exactly what they did.
5. Today’s parade requires and enormous number of behind-the-scenes workers- to prepare the 4,000 volunteers for the parade requires 230 dressers and 100 make-up artists.
6. Those balloons require huge amounts of helium. Only the US government uses more each year.
7. Handling those balloons is not easy. “Balloon pilots must walk backwards the entire 2.5 mile parade route.
8. Not just people, but balloons can also serve their country. During WWII the gigantic balloons were donated to the government to provide much needed rubber.
9. The scenes of the Thanksgiving Day Parade which are included in the classic movie Miracle on 34th Street were shot of the actual 1946 edition of the parade.