How long is the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade route in miles?
Answer
2.5 miles
The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade route is 2.5 miles long.
Today’s procession begins near West 77th Street and Central Park West on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. It travels south along Central Park West, passes Columbus Circle, turns east along Central Park South, then heads south on Sixth Avenue before finishing near Macy’s Herald Square flagship store on 34th Street.
The route has changed over time. The original parade began much farther north, at 145th Street in Harlem, and covered about 6 miles. A 2009 redesign altered the Midtown section, and the 2012 route eliminated Times Square while retaining the familiar 2.5-mile distance.
A common mix-up is confusing the route with the parade’s three-hour television broadcast or with the distance traveled by individual marching units during staging and dispersal. The 2.5-mile figure refers to the official public parade route through Manhattan.