Favorite NY Memories #3: Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Eric and I actually attended the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade two years in a row: 2008 and 2009. In 2008, we had just arrived in New York a couple of months earlier, and it was our first real big New York thing we went to. Thanks to not yet really understanding how early people show up for these things, we were a bit later than we needed to be to get a really good spot (silly us, only two hours early! What were we thinking?!), but we were able to see things pretty well so it wasn't too bad. The worst part was that it was a lot of standing around in the cold for many, many hours (although far from the worst we'd endure in that regard in our NYC life, that's for sure), but all in all it was a lot of fun. The best part was that my dad was marching in the parade with the Awesome Original Second Time Arounders Marching Band from St. Petersburg, Florida! It was pretty cool to see him march through Columbus Circle. And, of course, as newbies to the city, we were just happy to be a part of a New York institution like the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. It was really fun.

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, 2008

Top row: The sign I made to hold up as the 'Rounders marched by us; my dad and the band marching down Broadway

Bottom: Santa making his grand entrance; Eric in the street after the parade had passed us by

However, as fun as the parade in 2008 may have been, we vowed to never do it again. We were on a strict "Do Everything Once Right Away Before The Novelty of New York Wears Off" plan, and the Macy's Parade in 2008 just left us with memories of bone-chilling cold and really pushy crowds. No thanks, we thought. We'll watch it on TV like all the other sane people from here on out.

But, not so fast. One day, Eric happened to be talking to a coworker about our first Macy's Parade experience and how although it was fun, it was less than desirable. As it turned out, this coworker's wife happened to be formerly in charge of the sales department of the ESPN Zone in Times Square, which hosted a parade-viewing event every year for the children of NY police and firefighters. They would block off the sidewalk so these families can have crowd-free street viewing of the parade, or you could spend some time in the ESPN Zone playing games, getting warm, or enjoying the free breakfast buffet. When Eric got an email from this coworker asking if we would like to join them at the ESPN Zone event for the 2009 parade, to make up for our experience in 2008, we were ALL OVER IT. How lucky!

This sort of speaks to something we have discovered about these sorts of things in New York: you have to either be really early or really lucky. Sure, you can get to these kinds of events hours and hours before start time to try to make the experience as great as possible, or you just kind of have to be in the right place at the right time. For example, we waited in Times Square for seven hours to see the ball drop on New Years Eve, and we were too far back to even be under the confetti. However, we have friends that just happened to get to Times Square on New Year's Eve a couple years later right as NYPD was opening up some barricades close to one of the stages. Just by being in the right place at the right time, they had a much better experience than we did. This Thanksgiving Parade situation was kind of the same thing: The first year, we were early (although not early enough!). The second year, we were lucky. Frankly, I prefer the latter.

The ESPN Zone event did not disappoint. We had plenty of open sidewalk space to view the parade without getting constantly pushed around by crazy crowds. We had a fantastic view of the parade as it exited Times Square and turned east towards Bryant Park. We had free hot chocolate to drink to stay warm (even though the weather was quite a bit warmer than it had been the previous year!). We enjoyed some free breakfast. It was so luxurious and such a fun way to once again be a part of such a major New York City tradition.

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade 2009

Left, top row: Our passes to the ESPN Zone event

Left, second row: Eric demonstrating how much room we had on the sidewalk; the overcrowded other side of the street for comparison!

Left, third row: Macy's Parade begins; balloons passing through Times Square

Left, fourth row: Our view of the passing balloons; Santa kicking off the holiday season

Right: After a very fun parade experience!

That second attempt at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was just such a blast and left us feeling so grateful - both for the opportunity to view the parade in such a special way, and for the opportunity to live in this city in the first place. And gratitude is a very appropriate feeling to have on Thanksgiving, wouldn't you say? We are so thankful that Eric's coworker was so generous and gave us this very memorable New York experience.

To read more about our Thanksgiving Day Parade adventures, click here for 2008 or here for 2009.