The Red "Believe" Stars are a pair of novelty balloons from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. They have been used to end the parade every year since 2009 accompanying the Santa's Sleigh float with the exception of 2017.
History with the Macy's Parade[]
Original set[]
The Red "Believe" Stars made their first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade appearance in 2009, as part of Macy's then-newly-introduced Believe campaign, rounding out the Parade lineup alongside the brand-new Santa's Sleigh float and joining the Green "Believe" Star. These balloons served as the successors of the previous year's Red Macy's Star balloons, and the design was the basic Macy's star-shaped balloon, with the signature "Believe" logo sprawled across the front and back.
In 2013, the lower points of the two stars received major paint damage after scraping on the pavement due to the high winds. They were repainted and fixed afterwards for their final flight in 2014, making a total of five appearances.
Current set[]
In 2015, a set of brand-new Believe Stars debuted, alongside new Yellow Macy's Stars, with an all-new, refreshed design. The design is the same, although it uses the new Macy's Star design base with with rounder and smoother edges, brighter and vibrant colors and the "Believe" logo being updated. In 2017, these balloons were replaced with the Gold Macy's Starflakes to end the parade during said year.
In 2018, the balloons were re-instated to the line of march, taking back their original position of harking Santa Claus down the Parade route. However, mere minutes before their appearance on the NBC telecast, one of the Red "Believe" Stars came into contact with the large, gold, multi-pointed decoration atop Santa's Sleigh. The balloon deflated remarkably quickly, and floated down into its handlers, who caught it with raised hands and dumbstruck faces.
Only one of the Red Stars would appear before NBC's cameras; in a rare instance, Santa's Sleigh was accompanied by one, not two, Red Stars. As the Parade resumed, a female balloon handler on the surviving Red Star called out to the handlers on the other Red Star: "You had a good run!"
The deflated Red Star was given extensive repairs following the 2018 Parade, as both balloons would return to the line of march once again for the 2019 Parade, shooting down the Parade route alongside the majestic 31/2 Santa's Sleigh float.
Though both of the "Believe" Stars were meant to appear in the reimagined 2020 Parade, only one appeared as a result of rising COVID-19 cases, which resulted in all the novelty balloons bar the lone Believe Star and an Opening Macy's Star to be cut from the lineup. The lone Believe Star ended the parade being handled by mask-clad handlers. Both Star balloons returned live to NYC for the 2021 Parade. Both "Believe" Stars would also return for the 2022 Parade, with one making an appearance at a Balloon Field Training session in June 2023.
Since 2023, only one of the "Believe" Stars has been used.