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The 39th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (1965) | The 40th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (1966) | The 41st Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (1967) | 
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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[]
- Superman (National Periodical Publications) - 1st time
- Popeye (Associated Artists Productions) - 10th time
- Happy Dragon (Macy's) - 6th time
- Dino the Dinosaur (Sinclair Oil Corporation) - 4th time
- Elsie the Cow (Borden) - 4th time
- Smokey Bear (General Electric Company and Cooperative Forest Fire Prevention Program) - 1st time
- Underdog (Total Television Productions) - 2nd time
- Donald Duck (Walt Disney Productions) - 5th time
- Bullwinkle Moose (Macy's) - 6th time
- Linus the Lionhearted (Post Cereals) - 3rd time
Floats[]
- Cinderella (Chevrolet) - 1st time
- Grand Prix* (Metro Goldwyn Mayer) - 1st time
- Circus (Macy's) - 2nd time
- Autumn Splendor* (Macy's) - 2nd time
- Brontosaurus* (Sinclair Oil Corporation) - 1st time
- Tyrannosaurus Rex* (Sinclair Oil Corporation) - 1st time
- Ankylosaurus & Stegosaurus* (Sinclair Oil Corporation) - 1st time
- Fantasyland* (McDonald's) - 1st time
- Carousel (Radio City Music Hall) - 2nd Time
- Toyland* (Macy's) - 2nd time
- The Underdog Show* (Total Television Productions) - 2nd time
- Carousel* (New York City Center) - 2nd time
- Mother Goose (Macy's) - 5th time
- Salute to Canada* (Expo 67) - 1st time
Old Woman in the Shoe(Macy's) - 2nd time- Noah's Ark* (20th Century Fox) - 1st time
- Santa's Sleigh* (Macy's) - 3rd time
Specialty Units[]
- NYPD Mounted Unit - 40th time
- "Holiday Treat for Children Everywhere" Banner (Macy's) - 3rd time
- Hitch Wagon & Clydesdales* (Anhueser-Busch) - 1st time
- Clown Town Fire Truck* (Annville Fire Company) - 1st time
- Royal Canadian Mounted Police* - 1st time
- Comedy Ford* (Macy's) - 7th time
- "If You Haven't Seen Macy's..." Banner (Macy's) - 3rd time
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)
- Greater 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 (Hawthorne, NJ), performed "Strangers in the Night"
- Northwestern Senior High School Band (Hyattsville, MD)
Guest Stars[]
- Wayne Newton and America's Junior Miss 1966: Kathryn Benysh (Cinderella)
- Jack Brabham and Françoise Hardy (Grand Prix)
- Frankie Michaels (Circus)
- Nina Simone, sang "Blue Skies" (Autumn Splendor)
- Soupy Sales, sang "The Mouse" (Fantasyland)
- Radio City Music Hall Choraliers, sang "Radio City Music Hall on Parade" (Carousel)
- Tessie O'Shea (Toyland)
- Bruce Yarnell and the Cast of Carousel (Carousel)
- Teresa Brewer, sang "Jingle Bell Rock" (Mother Goose)
- Dusty Springfield, sang "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" (Old Woman in the Shoe)
- Santa Claus (Santa’s Sleigh)
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.
Incidents[]
- The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe float was removed for unknown reasons