The 89th Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Route, Balloons, Lineup Online Live

More than three million people were expected to line the 2.5-mile route. A record number of police officers patrolled the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in NY, while St. Louis resumed its annual parade, canceled a year ago amid protests over Michael Brown’s death.

The parade draws crowds from West 77th Street, where it begins, downtown to the parade’s end point at West 34th Street and Herald Square, around noon.

Looking at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade lineup and performers, we can see it has been broken into 9 categories, these are Balloons, Floats, Balloonicles, Performances, Marching Bands, Clowns, Novelty Balloons, Performance Groups, and Parade Official.

Some of the giant floats include Eruptor from Skylanders, Snoopy Woodstock, Hello Kitty, and Thomas the Tank Engine.

Performances are also expected from the likes of Pat Benatar, Mariah Carey and Panic At The Disco, and of course as usual, the guest of honor at the climax will be Santa Claus himself riding on his sleigh.

“And we all know that what terrorists try and do is intimidate. I’ve been up since 5 o’clock in the morning yesterday”, Jamie said. “They’re so very big. I love it. It’s unbelievable”.

Those who want to watch the parade from the comfort of their own homes can tune in to the live stream on NBC.com or Earthcam beginning at 9 a.m. on Thursday. They urged residents and visitors to carry on with holiday plans, saying there were no credible threats to the most populous USA city.

Debbie Irey, 50, a tourist from Salem, Oregon, said security was on her mind as she and her husband watched the parade since NY stood out as a potential target.

“This city can not be intimidated”, said police Commissioner Bill Bratton.

“Nothing’s going to hold us back from coming out”, a paradegoer said.

City officials said there were no known credible threats against NY following the recent terror attacks in Paris, but security was tight…

“If it gets too scary, we’ll watch from the hotel and see as much as we can see”, she said.

The small town of Walton, Indiana, was overjoyed when students in the Lewis Cass High School Marching Kings band were selected for the first time to take part in this year’s parade.