Come Thanksgiving morning, the kitchen windows steam up, the aroma of roasting turkey wafts through the house, and on TV is the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Broadcast from 9 a.m. to noon (live on the East Coast, tape-delayed elsewhere), the parade is viewed live by some 3.5 million spectators and televised to an estimated 50 million.
Between the balloon handlers, clowns, cheerleaders, dancers, marching bands, and celebrity performers, more than 2000 people take part in the parade. Unsurprisingly, we were most interested in the drivers, who tow the floats. We visited Macy’s Studio, the parade headquarters, and here are seven things you may not have known about the spectacle.
1. They’ll be driving Ram trucks
For this year’s parade, Ram is the new official truck, which means Ram pickups will be towing all 27 floats. (And Ram ProMaster vans will serve as support vehicles.) Those floats, once they’re loaded up with performers and kids, can weigh up to eight tons. The trucks towing them will be light-duty 1500s as well as heavy-duty 2500s and 3500s. The 1500s will be powered by the 5.7-liter Hemi V-8, with the heavy-duties packing the 6.4-liter gasoline V-8; no diesels are used. The parade trucks will be in one of four colors: silver, gray, pearl white, and Delmonico Red.
2. In past years, it would have been GMCs
2015 is the first year for Ram trucks; previously, GMC pickups and SUVs did the towing. GMC’s run lasted for more than 30 years in fact, going back to the early 1980s.
3. Teamsters do the driving
Although the people commanding the balloons (as many as 90 per balloon) are all Macys employees and friends, the drivers at the wheel of the trucks towing the floats are members of the New York City’s Theatrical Teamsters union, local 817. They’re supposed to wear a jacket and tie for the parade.
4. The real starting point is in Moonachie, New Jersey
The parade route begins on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, on Central Park West at 77th Street, but the floats first need to get from the warehouse where they’re built and stored, in Moonachie, New Jersey, to the starting point in the city. For that trip, the floats, which can be as much as 50 feet long and two or three stories tall, have to be broken down to a maximum size of 8.5 feet wide by 12.5 feet high, so they can go through the Lincoln Tunnel.
5. For the drivers, the parade kicks off on Wednesday night
The trip from New Jersey into Manhattan takes place around midnight on Wednesday. Because many of the floats have been partially deconstructed, there are additional trailers carrying the attendant pieces, for a total of more than 50 in all. They travel in convoy, with an escort from multiple police agencies, through the center tube of the Lincoln Tunnel (which is briefly closed to other traffic), to the staging area just north of the parade’s official starting point.
6. Getting back to Jersey, you’re on your own
The parade route ends in front of Macy’s flagship store in Herald Square. From there, the floats proceed one more block west and then turn north onto Seventh Avenue, where they meet the auxiliary trailers (which have been sent to the end point before the parade starts). The floats are again partially broken down for the return trip to Jersey. This time, though, there’s no convoy and no police escort. As each float is ready, the drivers are sent off on their own, creeping slowly through the Lincoln Tunnel, in holiday traffic, back to New Jersey. Which brings up one final point . . .
7. The worst job is driving Santa Claus
Jolly old Saint Nick is a fixture of the Thanksgiving Day Parade, which brings him to Macy’s Herald Square for the holiday season. There, he’ll listen to countless kids tell him what they want for Christmas. Towing Santa’s rig, however, is the job nobody wants. Nothing against the man in red—it’s just that his float brings up the rear, and for the drivers that means you’re the last one to complete the route, and the last to return your float to Moonachie, hours after drivers of the earlier floats are done. As one driver put it, “The guy who drives the turkey [which is always the first float in the parade] is home in time to see the Santa Claus float on TV.”
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