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89th annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
Posted On Nov 26 2015
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Onlookers crowded Manhattan sidewalks and rooftops on Thursday (Nov 26) to glimpse the marching bands, floats and massive balloons of Macy’s annual Thanksgiving Day Parade, held under tight security two weeks after deadly attacks in Paris.
NY officials said about 3.5 million spectators would turn out for the city’s signature parade, now in its 89th year. People pass the Snoopy with Woodstock balloon as preparations continue for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2015, in NY.
Officers walked alongside many parade groups and helicopters hovered overhead amid enhanced security following the November 13 attacks in Paris.
Millions are expected to line the streets of NYC as the parade makes its way from 77th street and Central Park West to Herald Square.
President Barack Obama had the day before said the U.S. faced no specific or credible terror threat, and urged Americans to celebrate the Thanksgiving Day holiday.
Mayor de Blasio assured New Yorkers that the parade route was safe, even amid worldwide fears of terrorism in the wake of the recent Paris attack.
Police added members of a new counter-terrorism unit to parade security.
Debbie Irey, 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.
She said: “We live in a society of being fearful”.
Warm temperatures and clear skies could bring record crowds to midtown Manhattan this year for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
We do feel for anyone who ends up missing the parade after being booked to be there, mostly because this feels like the sort of experience you would really want to have on at least one occasion in your life.
Bratton also said that regular police officers, armed with standard-issue 9-mm handguns, are trained to “neutralize any threat that they would encounter”. I have to tell you, the people of this city are voting with their feet.
“And we all know that what terrorists try and do is intimidate”.
