On Thursday, thousands lined the streets of New York City as the 91st Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade kicked off the start to the holiday season. Known for its larger-than-life parade of floats and balloons, the world famous procession is beloved by many every year.
But as audiences watched the three-hour show unfold on network television, many grew disgruntled by the lack of balloons and floats.
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With the balloons and floats as the main attraction to the parade, many at home took to social media to air their grievances of the lack thereof by the networks. Many expressed how the annual parade became more of an entertainment focused vehicle for commercialization with attention on artists and celebrities performing, rather than an artistic endeavor sharing the best part of the season.
What the hell is this @CBS ? This is horrible. Where is the parade? #ThanksgivingDayParade
— Scott Savage (@terp96) November 23, 2017
Watching the #ThanksgivingDayParade looking for the actual parade like: pic.twitter.com/XDZRNBw114
— Chris McElveen (@chrismcelveen) November 23, 2017
Hey @nbc… My kids really don’t care about the actors on your primetime shows. Broadway show bits are great, but really, can we see more of the balloons/floats that are just serving as backgrounds to your boring interviews? Worst #ThanksgivingDayParade so far #MacysParade @Macys
— Jessica (@thefirstjess) November 23, 2017
Thought I’d check out the Thanksgiving Day Parade. I forgot it isn’t about floats or marching bands playing Christmas music. It’s a big commercial for Broadway. Fair enough, I love musicals. But… some floats, please?
— Sandra Cormier and I do nice paintings buy some (@Chumplet) November 23, 2017
@Macys the Macy’s day parade is no longer the fun artistic event of the old days. Its all celebrity singing. Wheres the floats & balloons?!
— Vincent Chiantelli (@RaptorArts) November 23, 2017
While audiences at home weren’t able to watch the parade the way they wanted to due to CBS and NBC focusing on their celebrity guests, thousands took to the streets to feast their eyes upon the multimillion dollar balloons and floats.
CBS News reports the total costs for the Macy’s parade average between $11.6 million and $13.4 million, including supplies, float decorations, property taxes and staff salaries that total $2.7 million to $4.5 million.
The balloons alone rack up at least $510,000 in helium costs as they soar up to six stories high, with new balloons costing sponsors more than $190,000.
Photo credit: Twitter / @macys
