DJ Thanksgiving Day Parade Will Look Very Different This Year. What to Know. -- Barrons.com
By Ben Walsh
The 2020 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade will be a TV-only event, with in-person viewing discouraged and big changes to the procession.
The giant balloons that are normally controlled by up to 100 handlers each will instead be guided by "innovative, specially rigged" vehicles.
Rather than taking its usual 2.5-mile parade route along Central Park and into Midtown Manhattan, the whole event will be staged in and around Herald Square, where Macy's iconic flagship is located.
High school and college marching bands won't be flying in from across the country to participate in the event, either. Instead, a smaller number of local groups will perform.
The parade will be broadcast Thanksgiving morning, but performances will be taped over two days, meaning the show will not be entirely live.
The parade normally attracts an estimated crowd of 3.5 million people plus more than 20 million who watch on television. The changes mean that the city will miss out on those economic benefits during a time when New York's huge tourism industry is floundering.
New York's prohibitions against large gatherings and ongoing quarantine requirements for visitors from most states means big crowds are unlikely to gather to catch a glimpse of the tapings too.
Write to editors@barrons.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 15, 2020 10:09 ET (14:09 GMT)
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