The annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Balloon Inflation wasn’t always an event that drew tens of thousands of visitors to the Upper West Side. It used to be something semi-secret that took place in the dark and cold one night each year just around the corner from Central Park West.
For decades the night before Thanksgiving on the Upper West Side was festive but low-key and local. It was a great night to meet friends at neighborhood restaurants, in the bars you’d loved all through college and, with any luck, at the cocktail parties taking place in apartments above where Macy’s balloon crews worked through the night on West 77th Street.
At the end of the night, it was always fun to stop by for a few minutes to catch sight of Snoopy, Underdog and Casper the Friendly Ghost billowing into shape in the dark. If it wasn’t too cold you might find yourself sharing the sidewalks near the American Museum of Natural History with a few hundred neighbors at most, everyone spaced along the stretch of street between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West.
It wasn’t until just before sunrise each Thanksgiving Day that Upper West Side streets would begin to fill with parade-goers making their way toward Central Park West.
Today, pre-Thanksgiving eve on the Upper West Side is no longer local or low key. Instead, people from around the world and across the country crowd the neighborhood’s sidewalks for hours for an event that has become a must-do holiday tradition for all.
Stopping by West 77th Street on the Wednesday prior to the parade is no longer casual – there’s a wait, a line and a strict order to things that didn’t exist before. Still, the magic of the night endures. There’s a festive, giddy energy in the air during the balloon inflation that is almost as thrilling as that moment, on Thanksgiving Day, when the first Macy’s balloon bumps and peeks around the corner onto Central Park West – the official start of the parade and the New York holiday season.
If you plan to make the Macy’s Thanksgiving Balloon Inflation event part of your holiday plans this year, I highly-recommend you read the helpful insiders’ guides to making the most of the eve – and even skipping lines! – that have been written by Mommy Poppins and GirlGoneTravel.
Happy Thanksgiving!
