Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Wiki

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The 40th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was held on November 24, 1966, in New York City starting at 9 a.m. and shown to viewers live on NBC that same day from 10 a.m. to noon EST. It was hosted by Lorne Greene and Betty White. The lineup featured 10 giant character balloons, 17 floats, 13 marching bands, a host of celebrity appearances, and the one-and-only Santa Claus.

Parade Lineup[]

Listed below are the parade elements that appeared in the 1966 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. They are categorized by unit type, with their respective sponsors in bold. Home locations of talent ensembles are featured in brackets, and guest star’s float appearances are indicated in bold.

Bold denotes a new parade element, an underline indicates a unit that was brought back after an absence, and an asterisk (*) signifies an element that was retired after the 1966 Parade.

Balloons[]

Floats[]

Specialty Units[]

Push Floats[]

  • Rocking Horse (Macy's) - 9th time
  • Jack and the Beanstalk (Macy's) - 4th time

Marching Bands[]

  • William Penn Senior High School Band (York, PA)
  • Seabreeze High School Marching 100 (Daytona Beach, FL)
  • Monroe Girls Corps (Monroe, GA)
  • Swissvale High School Golden Triangles (Swissvale, PA)
  • New York City Mission Society Cadet Drum & Bugle Corps (New York City, NY)
  • Radford College Highlanders (Radford, VA)
  • Charleston High School Mountain Lion Band (Charleston, WV)
  • Kensington String Band (Philadelphia, PA)
  • Canadian Grenadier Guards
  • Band of the Royal Regiment of Canada
  • Hanover Park High School Golden Hornets Marching Band (East Hanover, NJ)
  • Prince George High School Royal Band (Prince George, VA)
  • Hawthorne Caballeros Drum and Bugle Corps and Muchachos performed "Strangers in the Night" (Hawthorne, NJ)
  • Northwestern Senior High School Band (Hyattsville, MD)

Guest Stars[]

Costumed Characters[]

Performance Groups[]

  • Miller's Blackhawks (Dayton, OH)
  • Radio City Music Hall Corp de Ballet
  • Radio City Music Hall Rockettes

Trivia[]

  • This year marks the first time that Milton Delugg would compose the background music for the Parade's NBC telecast. His music would be used for 48 years until 2013, when Ray Chew took his position beginning in 2014.
  • This was the first Parade since the 1964 Parade to feature the Happy Dragon balloon.

See also[]

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