The department store chain that hosts an annual Thanksgiving Day Parade is Macy’s. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade takes place in New York City each Thanksgiving and is presented by the department store company.
Macy’s held the first parade on November 27, 1924, when it was promoted as the Macy’s Christmas Parade. The event was designed to draw attention to the retailer’s large Herald Square store and to launch the holiday shopping season. The original procession featured store employees, floats, marching groups, and live animals borrowed from the Central Park Zoo.
The parade evolved substantially over time. Giant character balloons arrived in 1927, beginning with Felix the Cat, and eventually became its defining visual feature. The event was suspended from 1942 through 1944 during World War II, when its rubber balloons were donated for the war effort.
Macy’s is not the only department store associated with a Thanksgiving parade. Gimbels staged an earlier American Thanksgiving procession in Philadelphia in 1920, and Detroit has its own long-running parade. Macy’s is the canonical answer because its New York event is the nationally famous Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.