This year marks the 101st anniversary of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, and for many of us, it’s hard to imagine the holiday without the parade, which marks the occasion with floats and musical performances. Yet when the very first parade took place, on November 27, 1924, it looked quite different from what we know today. To begin with, it wasn’t called a Thanksgiving parade; instead, Macy’s billed it as the Macy’s Christmas Parade, a celebration for the newly expanded Herald Square store.

