What is your favorite thing about the Thanksgiving Day Parade?
I always try to watch the "Macy's" Thanksgiving Day Parade, even though it's loaded with more and more ads every year.
My favorite thing are the marching bands, mostly from colleges but some are high school bands also. Very few marching bands are featured on the televised version of the parade. But if you're lucky enough to attend the parade in person on Thanksgiving Day, you get to see and hear MANY more bands that aren't shown on television.
This is how NBC does it: When star performers sing and dance in front of the parade stage, they're usually accompanied by professional bands. These are stationary, just for the brief performance, and then they move off for the next group. Some are even pre-recorded for the brief time they're on.
But the school marching bands actually walk the entire route of the parade which requires lots of practice and much (young) energy and enthusiasm. I admire those bands and flag performers who march the entire distance while playing their rousing music!
= new reply since forum marked as read
NBC televises almost nothing of the parade itself. They have stationary cameras set up right in front of Macy's on 34th Street and that's what they show, the lip-synched performances at the parade stand.
It's a completely different experience for the folks who are there in Manhattan, standing on Fifth Avenue and watching the bands and floats go by. But it seems NBC is doing what Macy's wants, and Macy's is paying the bills.
