The Macy's Santa
Sadly, Santa will not be at Macy's Santaland for the first time in almost 160 years this Christmas. For the first time, the jolly old elf will not make an appearance at Macy's Santaland as the coronavirus pandemic poses too many risks for such a crowded experience.
Macy's Santaland will instead be transformed into an interactive, virtual experience for families to enjoy at home. Santa won't be leaving the North Pole this year for his annual holiday visit to Macy's flagship store in the Big Apple, New York City.
The department store will instead move the tradition to an online platform to "safely bring the joy of the season to visitors nationwide from the comfort of home". Families can access the event beginning Friday, November 27 through Thursday, December 24 at the Macy's Santaland at Home website and up to three children can take part in the customized experience at a time.
The online experience will include a special greeting from Santaland elves interactive games, a virtual tour of Santa's workshop and an interactive meet-and-greet with Santa where kids can snap a selfie with the iconic holiday figure.
The 2020 Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade was the 94th since the famed holiday parade started in 1924 and had been televised nationally on NBC since 1953. The parade was a different kind of event this year. They reinvented the event for this moment in history allowing its viewers to be able to feel the spirit and the joy of other years so thanks to Macy's and to the City of New York the famous parade gave us all that warmth and great feeling we have always had on Thanksgiving Day despite the changes and the challenges which involved staging the parade over 2 days with the number of participants reduced by nearly 75 per cent. The traditional 2.5 mile parade route was not part of this year's event.
On a personal sidenote, I had the great honor to meet the adorable Macy's Santa several years ago when he arrived in a big red motorcoach at the North Lake Mall in Charlotte NC. Before he exited the vehicle a red carpet was rolled out to welcome the "man in red" as a local high school band performed to herald in his long anticipated arrival. He walked into Macy's, sat down in his grand chair with children gathered around him. He read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas and I can honestly say that through my tears I had never heard it read quite the same before then nor since then. Thank you, Santa. I Believe.
So on Thursday morning (Nov. 26), the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade stepped off on the streets of New York City for a special, socially-distanced edition of the annual holiday spectacular. The Chairman and CEO of Macy's, Jeffery Gennette helped Al Roker cut the ribbon. While this year's event may have looked a little different without its usual miles of crowds, the Manhattan parade managed to go on, thanks to strict safety precautions, plenty of masks and a whole lot of technological ingenuity.
And with special performances that included a Motown tribute to The Temptations, the parade was also filled with the floats and balloons pulled by Ford trucks rather than balloon handlers .. families around the country have come to love every Thanksgiving morning for decades despite the changes that had to be made this year. The parade was filmed over 3 days with everybody tested for COVID-19 and wearing masks.
It was nice to see all our favorites back this year .. the balloons, the musical performances and the World Famous .. Radio City Music Hall Rockettes!
Be Safe.
Pat Locke
Maestro Muse
