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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.
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[]
Superman (National Periodical Publications) - 1st time
Popeye(Associated Artists Productions) - 10th time
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.
