Macy’s new Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons: Adam Sandler, Luffy, and an NFT

Thanksgiving in the United States is accompanied by a number of traditional televised events, but perhaps none as seamless and understatedly entertaining as the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

This year marks the department store’s 97th parade through the streets of New York City, and the event once again promises floats, musical numbers and large cartoon balloons, albeit with an extremely 2023 feel. Here’s what you need to know — and a few things you might never think about while watching.

How to watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade stream

The official broadcast of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will air on NBC and simulcast on Peacock. Today‘s Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb and Al Roker return as usual to chat about the floats. A Spanish-language simulcast airs on Telemundo, hosted by Carlos Adyan and Andrea Meza.

What time does the Thanksgiving Day parade start

This year’s parade starts a little earlier than usual: the simulcast runs from 8:30 AM ET to 12:00 PM ET, but also starts at 8:30 AM in all time zones, so you don’t have to wake up at the crack of dawn. NBC will also air an encore of the parade at 2 p.m. ET.

The new parade balloons and how they got here

This year’s balloon lineup features some returning Giant and Novelty favorites, including Spongebob, Grogu, Bluey and Smokey the Bear. The commercialism of it all means that some unknown faces will also be joining the line-up, including Leo, Adam Sandler’s 74-year-old lizard from the upcoming Netflix animated film; Uncle Dan, the mallard protagonist from Illumination’s new film Migration; and Blue Cat & Chugs, the mascots of Web3 company Cool Cats Group and the winner of a Macy’s contest to decide which NFT brand should earn a coveted character in the parade. 2023, baby! Anime also continues its mainstream takeover, with old balloons Goku and Pikachu joining in for the first time A piece‘s Monkey D. Luffy.

Time has modernized not only the balloon characters, but also the process itself. Kathleen Wright, Macy’s director of manufacturing operations, tells Polygon that the journey of designing a balloon, making it into inflatable form and parading it through Central Park has taken on the quality of a Seal Team 6 operation. Computers allow designers to test balloon concepts in different weather conditions to determine the correct center of gravity and lift, while taking into account the dimensions that will allow it to float through New York.

In the week leading up to the parade, Wright and her team walk the route with various city departments to identify potential obstacles to the floating stars, including any protruding lampposts, which are manually swung in the opposite direction by city workers on the parade. eve of the parade. On the day itself, the balloons – once made of rubber, but now built as modular pieces of polyurethane that are sealed and painted together – are inflated with a combination of helium and regular air, based on the lift required. Ninety handlers are assigned to each balloon, with 40 to 50 people securing the handling lines at any given time (and you thought pop stars were needy). By the time you get home to watch the parade, the balloon “flight envelope” has been completely broken down and considered. There is no room for error, and based on Wright’s description, they leave no errors.

The rest of the parade line-up

Along with the balloons and fleet of floats (including an unfortunately inedible Wonka), the Thanksgiving Day Parade will once again feature a slew of talent shivering in their underwear as they perform in the streets. The show opens with a performance by Jon Batiste, with expected appearances by Bell Biv DeVoe; Brandy; Chicago; En Vogue; David Foster and Katharine McPhee; Drew Holcomb and the neighbors; Jessie James Decker; Ashley Park and the Sesame Street Monsters; Pentatonix; Paul Russell; Amanda Shaw and Alex Smith; and Manuel Turizo. Oh, and ENHYPEN will be there — so if you hear an excessive amount of screaming from the crowd, it’s because the parade has been full of K-Pop, bless you.