Quiz: How Well Do You Know the History of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade?

Thanksgiving is a holiday with few widespread traditions, yet one that continues to stay popular is watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Think you have what it takes to be a true Thanksgiving Day Parade expert? Find out with this 10-question quiz:

While you might consider yourself an expert on the modern parade, it has gone through multiple transformations over the years since its creation.

In 2024, approximately 3.5 million people watched the parade in person, with a record-setting 31.3 million viewers watching on television and streaming. That was the highest viewership of any televised event that year, excluding news and sports broadcasts.

It’s hard to believe that something created so many years ago continues to be that popular today. Thanksgiving continues to be minimized in the rush to start Black Friday sales and Christmas movie marathons, yet millions of people still tune in to see massive balloons floating through the New York City skies and Santa ushering in the holiday season.

The Year the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Nearly Turned Deadly

While the broadcasts of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade tend to showcase a remarkable amount of control over the parade festivities, there have been many accidents over the years, including some that were only seen by those attending live. Most of these incidents involve parade balloons deflating or pulling apart, which happens every couple of years, but there have also been a few accidents that forced the parade to operate differently moving forward.

More Holiday Quizzes:

Add Mental Floss as a preferred news source!

In both 1993 and 1995, there had been incidents that resulted in injuries for audience members. In ‘93, a Sonic the Hedgehog balloon lost control and crashed into a lamp pole, injuring two and causing a woman to need medical care for excessive helium inhalation. In ‘95, Dudley the Dragon had a similar incident, causing the glass from the light to shatter and injure a bystander.

But these were both minor cases in comparison to what happened in 1997. Weather stations were predicting gale-force winds, which were going to cause problems for the parade’s 14 giant balloons. The winds ripped Sonic the Hedgehog’s head off, and the inflatable versions of the Pink Panther and Barney got out of control.

After a streetlight ripped a hole in the Pink Panther, the NYPD decided to stab the balloon to deflate it before it could cause more problems. Barney met a similar fate after knocking down a tree and being pierced by yet another streetlight.

While the fate of the balloons was either hilarious or heartbreaking, depending on the audience, it was the threat to human life that made it the parade’s darkest year. The New York Times reported that a woman and her daughter, who had been in charge of the Pink Panther, thought they would be suffocated during the balloon’s collapse, and there were reports of another handler being knocked unconscious.

The greatest danger came from the Cat in the Hat, which hit a lamp post and caused a metal arm to fall into the crowd. Two New Yorkers received “bruised cheeks,” and another two wound up in the hospital with head injuries. One woman, Kathleen Caronna, actually ended up in a coma for 24 days due to a severe skull fracture. According to her lawsuit against Macy’s, she had suffered irreparable brain damage.

These near-fatal incidents pushed New York mayor Rudy Giuliani to launch a task force dedicated to keeping the parade safe. In future years, there were physical requirements for all balloon handlers, city infrastructure changes, and limits on the size of balloons. In addition, the Cat in the Hat was retired.

Keep up with Mental Floss’s quiz section for more trivia.