Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Josh: [00:00:00] The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, a beloved holiday tradition, has captivated audiences for nearly a century. The parade's iconic giant balloons have become synonymous with the holiday season. Despite facing challenges, the parade has persevered, continuing to bring joy and wonder to millions. However, beneath its festive exterior, the parade has also been the subject of controversy and concern, from accidental release of confidential documents to the ever present threat of terrorism.

As we delve into the darker side of this beloved tradition, we uncover stories that challenge our perceptions of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Molly: It's not bad. It's not bad. It is bad. It's not that bad. It's 

Josh: not that bad when she does cry.

Molly: Hello all you ghouls and goblins. Welcome to ConspiriWeird where we talk about conspiracy theories and all things weird. I am your host Molly and with me today is Josh. 

Yo. How 

Molly: are you doing 

Josh: today? Uh, full of anxiousness. Well 

Molly: it's the night before Thanksgiving and I'll do the house. 

Josh: Nothing stirred except our loud cat meowing like a mouse.

No, I don't know. 

Molly: So, snack time. 

Josh: Snack time. I don't have any snacks today. We just finished eating some pizza. 

Molly: I am doing my usual nighttime routine of hot chocolate and orange sherbet. [00:02:00] Don't judge it until you try it. Hot chocolate, orange sherbet. Hot chocolate made with milk, obviously. If you love hot chocolate like I do, there's no other way.

To drink it. 

Don't forget the marshmallows. 

Molly: Yeah. Yeah. 

So what are we talking about today? 

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Patreon. Y'all should, what do we gotta talk about? Patreon. 

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Because 

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I like it. Maybe the Silver Bridge. 

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Molly: And you get to do the book club and discussions with us. You can ask us questions. You can give us topics you want to talk about. Um, we have some more, like, detailed pictures with some of the stuff that we can't show on social media. 

Josh: When we get to those episodes. 

Molly: Which we have some. Um, so there's some extra behind the stuff, scene stuff on there.

So you should go check it out. And we're also doing many episodes on there as well. 

Josh: Weird after dark. 

Molly: Weird after dark. So. 

Josh: Tell your mother.

Molly: I mean, if she's cool with that, then go for it. 

Josh: So what are we talking about today? 

Molly: Right on the eve of Thanksgiving, we're going to talk about. [00:04:00] 

Thanksgiving. 

Molly: Thanksgiving. Um, the Macy's Day Parade, Thanksgiving Day Parade. 

Josh: Yes. 

Molly: Yes. So let's get into it. You ready? 

Josh: Let's do it. 

Molly: Okay. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade was originally known as Macy's Christmas Parade and started in 1924.

This event was started by employees of Macy's and featured animals from the Central Park Zoo. Oh, 

Josh: that's cool. 

Molly: It really is. Now they're 

Josh: just people in costumes. 

Molly: Yeah. 

Josh: Lame, , lame 

Molly: employees and featured professional performers dressed in vibrant costumes. They marched from 145th Street in Harlem to Macy's flagship store on 34th Street.

The first parade was so successful that they made it an annual event. The parade signature giant balloons made their debut in 1927, and the first ever balloon to make it in the parade was Felix Dek. I watched that movie [00:05:00] as a kid, and it scared the ever living crap out of me. 

Josh: Well, you're not supposed to watch the movie.

It's the show, the cartoon, that was so much better. 

Molly: The movie scared me, and I don't like the clocks. 

Josh: I was going to say I kind of like the clocks. 

Molly: I do not like them. In 1928, Felix was filled with helium and released at the end of the parade. This practice stopped in 1932. Since Felix, parade balloons have featured more than a hundred of the world's most beloved animated characters.

The parade continued to thrive through the 1930s with over one million people in attendance. During World War II, the parade was suspended, and this was due to the demand of rubber and helium. Balloons were deflated and then donated to the government. This provided 60 pounds of rubber to help the war effort.

The parade resumed in 1945, and in 1947, the movie Miracle of 34th Street [00:06:00] featured footage of the parade and made the parade a household name. The parade was broadcast on national TV for the very first time a year later. In 1968, Macy's creative team began building parade floats. To this day, the floats continue to be designed exclusively by Macy's employees.

Josh: It's kind of cool. 

Molly: Yes. 

Josh: When we think about the Macy's Day Parade, we have Happy thoughts and wonderful moments. We are going to talk about some not so great memories, though. The first one we're going to talk about here is about an explosion at the US Canada border. Social media was flooded with conspiracy theories after the explosion.

Near Niagara Falls on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving in 2023, only a couple years ago, two people died and there were reports going viral claiming the explosion was caused by terrorists [00:07:00] who were trying to target the Macy's Day Parade, but there was no evidence of that. Far right influencer Laura Loomer tweeted, The FBI is suspecting that the car bomb explosion terrorist attack at the Rainbow U.

S. Parade Canada border in Niagara Falls could have been heading directly to the Macy's Day Parade in New York City. Loomer continued, FBI and NYPD are on extreme high alert and advising no travel to New York City. They are also now looking for a second vehicle. Stay out of New York City. America is under attack by Islamist, Islamists again.

The problem with this is that it was completely unfounded theory that the vehicle was actually on the U. S. side and trying to get into Canada. If there was a terrorist, they would have likely been going to the parade in New York, not moving into Canada. Fox News was the first news [00:08:00] outlet to claim that the explosion was related to terrorism.

They conceded that the vehicle was already on the U. S. side trying to get to Canada. A reporter at Fox blamed conflicting reports on the situation. 

Molly: Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's also another event that happened at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2012. Some of the parade fans noticed something really wrong with the confetti that rained down during the parade.

The confetti was poorly shredded police documents with important information on it. 

Oh shoot. 

Molly: Yeah. TV station WPIX reported that some of the confetti came from Nassau County Police Department documents. Parade attendees found strips of paper with import, with incident reports, license plate numbers, social security numbers, and even some information about Rick Mitt, I can't even say his name, Mitt Romney's motorcade when he [00:09:00] visited Long Island.

Some of the paper had information about undercover cops. Some of the information on the confetti would normally be confidential. The real question is how the confetti got there in the first place, considering that Macy's claimed that they Only use commercially manufactured, multi colored confetti, not shredded paper.

Mace, uh, college student Ethan Finkelstein, sorry if I said your last name wrong. Probably not. Probably not. And New York native told WPIX it landed on a friend's shoulder and it said, says SSN and it's written like a social security number and we're like, that's totally bizarre. Which it is. This made him really concerned and he started to pick up pieces of confetti with his friends.

He continued to say there are phone numbers, more social security numbers, addresses, license plate [00:10:00] numbers, and then we find all these incident reports from police. One strip of confetti indicated that it was from an arrest record, and another one stated more in depth information. He went on to say, It says at 4.

30am a pipe bomb was thrown at a house in King's Grant area. These documents that were found were shredded horizontally instead of vertically, which is one of the least secure methods because it allows entire lines of text to be read. Makes sense. Macy said in an interview with WPIX that its official confetti material are punched out pieces of paper instead of shreds of paper.

It is speculated that the shredded documents could have come from any of the countless number of office windows along the parade route. A Nassau County police representative told WPIX [00:11:00] That the department was very concerned about the situation and that they will be conducting an investigation into this matter as well as reviewing their procedures for disposing of sensitive documents.

Josh: Doubt anything came of them reviewing the investigation.

On ABC 

Josh: News, they say the 2024 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade may be a target for both domestic and foreign terrorist violence. The report was put out by multiple law enforcement agencies, including the New York Police Department and the FBI. The report stated that among the most significant threats facing the nation's largest Thanksgiving celebration, [00:12:00] quote, stems from the Loan offenders and small groups of individuals seeking to commit acts of violence end quote the report went on to say though the 2024 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade event will provide a broad set of potential soft targets for an attack congested areas where the largest amount of people gather particularly designated viewing areas are likely the most vulnerable spots for a mass casualty attack.

There is no specific actionable threat, but the report raises particular concern about vehicle ramming. This has become a recurring tactic employed by threat actors looking to target crowded pedestrian areas. The NYPD will have sanitation trucks and other blocker vehicles at entry points and along the route to prevent any potential bad actors from penetrating the barricades.[00:13:00] 

Molly: Which is really scary. 

Josh: But it's kind of like a, you know, you know that's always a threat. It's not like it's something new. That's always bound to happen. That's why they do what they do, block off the roads, you know, and I'm sure they block it off way in advance, you know, but you never know. Never know.

Somebody snuck in as a Macy's employee, maybe they can still get their hands on a vehicle on the route. 

Molly: Don't mess this up for me guys. 

Josh: Yeah, we're gonna be watching. Like, literally, we're putting on the Mace Davey, the parade. 

Molly: You ready for fun 

Josh: facts? Fun facts! This year will be the 100th anniversary of the parade.

Molly: Wow, 

Josh: that's a milestone right there. 

Molly: I hope that I never reach 100. 

Josh: Well, I would imagine that's gonna be, Sorry, it's getting late. [00:14:00] I would imagine it's, um, 

Molly: It's 8 o'clock! 

Josh: It's getting late! It's almost bedtime! I would imagine that this parade is going to be really, really cool, considering it's the 100th anniversary.

And hopefully it's not as lame as last year's. Although, I always like seeing Goku and Sonic and stuff coming out. Nerd! Nerd. Uh, the first, this is the first ever parade. What 

Molly: the first ever parade. 

Josh: Wow. Okay. So stuck on like the hundredth one. This parade is, I mean, the parade in general is the first ever parade to that has had more than 250,000 people in attendance.

Mickey Mouse made his parade debut in 1934. Uh huh. Snoopy holds the record for the most balloons in a parade history. Snoopy! In terms of the new giant balloon lineup, this marks the first to include three female character balloons. [00:15:00] It will include Extraordinary Nora, and the Elf on a Shelf, Minnie Mouse, and Gabby.

Molly: No idea who they are. 

Josh: Okay. Um, yeah, okay. The parade will air on NBC on November 28th, from 9 to 12, in all time zones. And 3. 5 people in New York 

Molly: It's supposed to say a million. 

Josh: 3 people and a midget in New York 

Molly: They don't grab my midgets anymore! 

Josh: 3 people and a small person Three and a half million people in New York and 50 million people, TV watching each year.

Tune into this event. 

Molly: Yes. That's a lot of people. 

Josh: It is a lot of people. It's a lot of people. It's a lot of pressure to make sure everything's done right. Perfect. Yeah. 

Molly: Did you [00:16:00] ever watch the parade growing up? 

Josh: Uh, not until, I might have seen it like once or twice, but I really only started really watching it because of you.

Molly: So you lived in New York and you never went to Oh 

Josh: no, no, I never went to, no, I never ended up going there, no. Nope. 

Molly: Your mom really failed you. 

Josh: Failed. Sorry mom, if you're listening. 

Molly: Sorry Alice. We should have gone to the parade. You should have brought him to the parade. I 

Josh: would have. Probably not liked it because it would have been too cold.

Molly: One thing about my husband is that he despises the cold. 

Josh: I don't like crowds either. So, two for two, I'm already done. It still would have been cool, maybe as like a kid. Not like too young, not too old. Just right kid age, right around our kids ages. Between six to eleven. 

Molly: Probably 

Josh: would have been a perfect time to go.

Molly: Listen, it is one of my life goals to watch the Macy's [00:17:00] Day Parade in front of Macy's. 

Josh: In front of Macy's? Yes. Where they're doing the dancing? 

Molly: Yes. So, figure that shit out. 

Josh: So, 

Molly: if 

Josh: anybody has a hookup, please let a brother know. 

Molly: What have been your Thanksgiving traditions? Speaking just 

Josh: in general. Just family getting together and we eat a lot and relax.

I don't really have any traditions because we're lame. 

Molly: Well, growing up it was most of the time it was just me and my mommy. Shout out to mommy. You are the best. I love you. 

Shout out mom. 

Molly: You are the best. Growing up it was mainly just me and her. So we would watch the Macy's Day Parade and bake pies together.

Josh: And because That's something you did. I continue the tradition and always try to make sure the Mesa State Parade is playing. Yes. I, 

Molly: this, this year I'm not baking pies, but I am baking cookies. Close enough. And a [00:18:00] turkey. And a turkey. And other stuff. But, um, I'm making cookies that have been passed down through generations in my family.

So, butter cookies that are delicious. They're crummy, just like my jokes. 

Josh: What do you think will happen if something does happen at the parade? 

Molly: I really hope it doesn't happen. 

Josh: Anything? 

Molly: Anything bad at all. Because if it does, I will literally cry my eyes out. 

Josh: That would suck. That would suck. We don't want that.

We don't want that on Thanksgiving. No, not 

Molly: on Thanksgiving. Ever. We never want anything ever. We don't 

Josh: ever want Molly to cry. 

Molly: Molly doesn't cry that much. So when Molly cries, It's not bad. It's not bad. It is bad. It's not that 

Josh: bad. It's not that bad when she does Greg. Cause she doesn't do it that often.

It's 

Molly: not that bad. No. But, um, I think it would mess up the Thanksgiving Day Parade a lot. A lot, a lot. Like, I [00:19:00] don't know. If they would ever do it again, what, what, what do you think? 

Josh: Um, I think they, it's too big of a thing for them to not do. If there was a problem, maybe they're on hiatus, but it's, it's too much of a magical, uh, staple in, in society and tradition and, and too much of a money maker and, and promotion, uh, events for shows and movies and actors and.

band artists and stuff that they would ever stop doing it. 

Molly: I don't know. I mean just I really hope it doesn't happen because New York already got hit by 9 11 

Josh: New York's been hit by a lot of things. Yeah 

Molly: Yeah, World Trade Center got hit too many 

Josh: too many times too many times too many times 

Molly: One time is bad enough two times in a day No, there was one time in like the 90s Where I got hit by a [00:20:00] bomb or something.

You didn't hear about that? I guess we'll have to 

Josh: cover that in another episode. 

Molly: I need to edumacate him. Obviously he doesn't know everything like I do. Did you hear our cat? I don't go 

Josh: down the rabbit hole as much as Molly does. 

Molly: He doesn't, but he's learning. Not really. Anything else you want to say, Lovebug?

Josh: Um, have a magical Thanksgiving. Remember, the reason for Thanksgiving is loving your people that love you in life. And, uh, if you need to make up to anybody without having regrets, please do. Because people don't last forever, and relationships are precious. 

Molly: And if your family does end up fighting live stream, that shit so I can watch it.

Josh: Live stream. Tag, conspirator. Weird. Live Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving. Ooh. What should the cash tag be? Hashtag conspiracy. Weird. Live 

Molly: fight. 

Josh: I hashtag weird. Hashtag Fight Club ? [00:21:00] Yes. 

Molly: Family Fight Club. 

Josh: Oh boy. 

Molly: Okay. Well. 

Josh: Um, that's it. Short one. Short but sweet. Uh, We got to rest up. Yeah, we got a lot of cooking and prep to do.

I got a lot 

Molly: of cooking. 

Josh: I got a lot of cooking too. Oh, 

Molly: he peels potatoes and garlic. 

Josh: I peel and chop and peel and chop. And everything that we're making requires peeling and chopping. 

Molly: Three words for you. 

Josh: Garlic 

Molly: mashed potatoes. We'll end with that. We love you guys. Bye. And that's a wrap on today's episode.

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade has seen its shares of ups and downs, but through it all, it remains a symbol of joy, tradition, and resilience. Thanks for joining us as we explored it. Until next time, stay weird, y'all. 

Josh: We want to thank you for tuning in. You can find us on all your favorite social [00:22:00] platforms by ConspiryWeird, posting photos and details from each episode.

Please consider keeping our tummies full by donating to the snack fund. Donations will be given a shout out on the podcast. Special thanks to audionautix. com for the theme music. And remember, question everything.