Every Thanksgiving Day, as my mom cooked away in the kitchen of our 3-bedroom apartment, I would sit in the living room and inhale the aromas coming my way. There was a light tan colored serving tray that had a circular pillar coming up from it, and a circular plate surrounding the base of the pillar. That base was covered in an array of nuts that my mom would have bought at Meijer just a few days before hand, and hidden from me in the pantry so I didn't spoil it and eat them all before Thanksgiving Day.
On our small, color, UHF/VHF-knob-turning-tube-television, I would then watch the America's Thanksgiving Parade that took place on Woodward in Detroit. I sat, with the small silver pair of nut crackers that mom always seemed to have to replace right before Thanksgiving due to them falling apart or getting lost, cracking my favorite nuts first (at that age, the walnuts of course). My eyes grew wide as the intricate floats and large ballooned characters passed across my screen. I was always so amazed at the display, and always a little upset when the walnuts ended and I had to go on to the "lesser" nuts.
Little did I know, America's Thanksgiving Parade had started in 1924, tied for second oldest Thanksgiving Day Parade with the New York Macy's Day Parade. The America's Thanksgiving Parade is celebrating it's 90th anniversary this year. If the math seems a little off to you from 1924, it is because there were two years where the parade did not take place, during World War II.
I'm not just an amazing plethora of knowledge to tell you these things, I just happen to be lucky in having Ann as my tour guide on a recent trip to the Detroit Parade Company HQ. Ann filled myself and my group of middle schoolers in on little known details that were morsels of interesting information. She told us about the design of the building we were in (on Mt. Elliott street); the history of the parade itself (including how after Art Van made a significantly large donation, the title of the parade officially changed to America's Thanksgiving Parade Presented by Art Van); and the history of many of the floats, costumes, masks, all along with how they all were made! There were exciting areas of the building that we couldn't take photographs in, so as not to ruin the surprise of the new floats that will debut on Thanksgiving Day, and there were areas where old floats were decommissioned, on display, and being used for parts for new floats.
Check out this sneak peek of what is to come this Thanksgiving Day on Woodward! And make sure to check out the Detroit Parade Company and continue to support this Michigan staple of arts and creativity!
