Disneyland may have already moved forward with its holiday decorations, but we still have to get through Thanksgiving before we can pull those trees and other holiday decorations out. If you can’t get enough of November’s big day for turkey, we have some excellent news for you: NBC has just announced all of the details for this year’s Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Obviously, the parade will happen on Thanksgiving morning, because we all know no one would watch if the big parade conflicted with football. This year, Thanksgiving falls on November 28, and the parade will air from New York City from 9 a.m. ET to noon ET. NBC’s Today anchors, including Matt Lauer, Al Roker and Savannah Guthrie will be on hand to host the big event.
This year is the parade’s 87th, and even though that’s not an anniversary year, there will still be some big names involved with the actual parade portion of the event. There are a huge number of famous performers involved, along with the usual marching bands and floats. Here’s NBC’s big list.
“Joining the festivities this year are the Big Apple Circus, Kristin Chenoweth, Cherokee National Youth Choir, Chica and the gang from Sprout, Cirque du Soleil, Gavin DeGraw, Brett Eldredge, Fall Out Boy, Jimmy Fallon and The Roots with the cast of Sesame Street, Fifth Harmony, Florida Georgia Line, Goo Goo Dolls, Ariana Grande, Jack Hannah, Megan Hilty, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings, Sandra Lee, Cher Lloyd, Austin Mahone, Mannheim Steamroller, Miss America 2014 Nina Davuluri, NFL legends Bart Oates, Amani Toomer and Hines Ward, NHL legends Cam Neely and Mike Richter, as well as Kellie Pickler, The Robertson family from A&E’s hit series Duck Dynasty, Debby Ryan, Richard Simmons, and The Summer Set.”
Many of these extras are musical guests, but I am interested to see what the Duck Dynasty clan’s appearance will look like. More importantly, I think the performance by Jimmy Fallon and The Roots with the cast of Sesame Street should be a must-watch. Fallon has frequently collaborated with the Roots and other random musical artists during his late night show, including Miley Cyrus, Robin Thicke, Carly Rae Jepsen, and even Mariah Carey. He likes to hang with some of the biggest names in the music industry, but we’ll see how he fares when some Sesame Street characters are added into the mix.
But that’s not all. Carrie Underwood will be performing live during the first hour of the broadcast. Additionally, the Rockettes and some of Broadway’s best will pop up, like the cast of Matilda. This year will also offer 15 giant character balloons, including a 75th Anniversary Wizard of Oz balloon, 30 floats, 1,600 cheerleaders, and 11 bands. That will be a lot to take in, but it should be a nice program to have on while you are busy making stuffing and pumpkin pie, or totally sitting around while your Grandma does all the work. You can check out more about this year’s parade here.
