Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade ends with visit from Santa in NYC

Nov. 25 (UPI) -- The 95th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade took place in New York City Thursday, attracting thousands of spectators who lined the streets to catch a glimpse of their favorite music and theater stars, as well as gigantic character balloons and themed floats.

The NBC/Peacock broadcast opened with a performance by Annie Live! star Celina Smith singing "Tomorrow." Harry Connick Jr., who will play Daddy Warbucks in Thursday's special, and members of the ensemble also sang, "I Don't Need Anything But You."

The casts of the Broadway musicals Moulin Rouge, Six and Wicked performed numbers from their shows; rock band Foreigner sang, "I Wanna Know What Love Is;" the Rockettes from Radio City Music Hall danced to a medley of holiday tunes; and the stars of Blue's Clues and Sesame Street partied on floats.

Also joining in the festivities were music stars Jimmie Allen, Kelly Rowland, Mickey Guyton, Chris Lane, Nelly, Rob Thomas and K-pop group Aespa.

After a scaled back parade last year due to COVID-19, this year's lineup included 15 giant character balloons, 28 floats, 36 novelty and heritage inflatables, more than 800 clowns, 10 marching bands and nine performance groups and dozens of musical stars.

New character balloons include Grogu from Disney's The Mandalorian, Ronald McDonald by McDonald's and Pikachu and Evee from Pokémon.

The traditional holiday event aired live on NBC, CBS and Telemundo, and streamed on Peacock and Paramount+

The temperature in New York for most of the parade was 50 degrees.