The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade aired on NBC and CBS on Thanksgiving morning, November 26th from 9 am to 12 noon, each station captured different highlights of the event. NBC followed the march down Seventh and Eighth Avenue from it's starting point at 77th Street to 34th Street, covering the BYE BYE BIRDIE, HAIR, BILLY ELLIOT, and SHREK performances, in addition to Cheyenne Jackson, Jane Krakowski, Alan Cumming and The Rockettes. CBS, meanwhile, broadcast the WEST SIDE STORY, RAGTIME, DREAMGIRLS, and Reba performances, in addition to a Time Square interview live with GOD OF CARNAGE stars Christine Lahti and Jimmy Smits.
The 83rd edition of the Macy's Parade marked a milestone in Parade history, going where it has never gone before. Having marched down parts of Broadway for 82 years, the 2009 procession was the first to bypass Broadway in the long running march, lighting up 7th Avenue in its place.
Over the years the Macy's Parade route has changed five times traveling through several different paths, from having initially stepped off in Harlem to its current 77th Street launch, the route has changed with the times. The 2009 Macy's Parade began at 77th Street and Central Park West, traveled down to Columbus Circle where it turned onto Central Park South. Once the Parade reached 7th Avenue it turned once more and march down 7th Avenue through Times Square to 42nd Street. At the famed intersection it turned east to 6th Avenue and began its final march down the Avenue of the Americas to 34th Street where turned towards Macy's famed flagship and ended at 7th Avenue marking a 2.65-mile march.
Public information on the 83rd Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is available by logging on to www.macysparade.com.
Photos by Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.
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