It’s nine a.m. on Thanksgiving Day. The year is 1924. Decked out in a dazzling array of colorful costumes, 10,000 Macy’s employees have gathered in Harlem. The skies are clear, the air is crisp, and the group begins its march downtown, accompanied by towering floats, animals on leashes from the Bronx Zoo, and clowns. The day holds profound significance for many first-generation immigrants in attendance. They are celebrating America!
A century later, the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, in New York City, has come to symbolize the Roaring 20s—a period of opulence and optimism after the horrors of World War I. Department stores were thriving, and the Macy’s flagship store, in Herald Square—the destination of the parade—was the crown jewel of American retail. Known as “the World’s Largest Store,” it covers more than one million square feet, stretching from Broadway to Seventh Avenue along 34th Street.
