From the vault: America's Thanksgiving Parade over the years
John Steckroth, Editor
Carmen Harlan and Mort Crim during the 1993 Thanksgiving parade in Detroit.
The holiday season begins for most Michiganders when Santa Claus steps from the last float in the parade and accepts the key to the city.
The Michigan Thanksgiving Parade began marching down Woodward Avenue in 1924 and Santa has never missed one yet.
Now known as America’s Thanksgiving Parade presented by Art Van, the parade was originally founded by J.L. Hudson’s downtown Detroit’s legendary department store. It was the same year that Macy’s began its parade in New York City.
The first year featured horses pulling a float decorated with Mother Goose, four papier-mache heads and seven marching bands.
The first televised parade was in 1948 and today it is broadcast nationally to more than 100 million viewers. You can watch America’s Thanksgiving Parade presented by Art Van on Local 4 and livestreamed on ClickonDetroit.com (watch here).