Thanksgiving Day Parade 

It is almost Thanksgiving! For many, the holiday brings with it thoughts of a turkey feast, followed by football.  It also brings to mind the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Although the Macy's parade may be the most well known,  it is not the oldest Thanksgiving Day Parade, it has a predecessor.

Gimbels' Thanksgiving Parade Was the First

Gimbels' Thanksgiving Day Parade was started as a publicity and marketing event to encourage people to make Gimbel Brothers Department Stores (Gimbels) a holiday shopping destination. The parade was started in 1920 at the flagship store in Philadelphia, and "consisted of just 50 dressed up employees who traveled from the Philadelphia Museum of Art down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, ultimately ending at Gimbels at Eighth and Market streets". (Romero)

As the parade’s popularity grew, Gimbels brought in floats, marching bands, and huge balloons of characters from newspaper comic strips, leading other stores across the country to follow in their footsteps. Macy's in New York copied the idea, hosting their first parade four years later in 1924. (Greenberg, Romero)

The Philly parade grew and grew, and by the 1940s was drawing around 500,000 spectators. Bernard Gimbel, grandson of founder Adam Gimbel, was a master at promotion and generating a strong public interest in the business, thereby gaining him constant free media coverage. (Smith)

Afters Gimbels was bought out in the mid-1980s, the local ABC affiliate WPVI, known as 6abc, became the main sponsor with several different co-sponsors over the years. It is currently sponsored by 6abc and Dunkin' Donuts.

Information on the 2022 6abc/Dunkin' Thanksgiving Day Parade can be found on the 6abc website.

Sources used for this Musing are listed below.

- Greenberg, Kyrie, We Haven’t Forgotten: Gimbels Thanksgiving Parade Was The First, Hidden City website, November 24, 2014, accessed November 18, 2022

- Romero, Melissa Photos: Old photos of Philly’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Curbed Philadelphia website, November 22, 2017, accessed November 18, 2022

- Smith, Scott S., Bernard Gimbel, A Force Behind Thanksgiving Parade, Investor's Business Daily website, November 27, 2013, accessed November 18, 2022