Every year on Thanksgiving morning thousands of Americans scurry to their television sets to catch site of the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. This famous event began on Christmas in 1924 and had 250,000 citizens in attendance. In 1927 Felix the Cat became the first giant balloon featured in the parade starting the tradition of including these huge, blown up, characters.

Although the parade is usually glamorous, there are times when the event does not run quite as smoothly as predicted. Here are highlights of the parade over the past years: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

1. The Good

In 1940 the Tin Man was chosen over all other Oz characters to be a float because all he wanted was a heart, highlighting what Thanksgiving is all about: love, family, and thankfulness

In 2007 Jeff Koons Rabbit made it into the parade, making it the first modern art sculpture to be made into a balloon!

In 2002 Charlie Brown was added to the bunch along with his football! Charlie Brown a holiday icon and was seen floating through the streets chasing his football.

2. The Bad

In 1961 the Popeye the Sailor balloon was flying around the city when the float suddenly dumped water on the crowd. Popeye's hat had apparently become full with water from a heavy rain the night before.

In 1985 Kermit the Frog suddenly tore at the stomach and almost crashed into spectators, making it a tad dramatic for the young viewers

In 1995 Dudley the Dragon hit a lamppost, deflating and showering the crowd with glass

3. The Ugly

In 1997 a woman was seriously injured after a Cat in the Hat balloon ran into a lamppost and sent a piece of the post hurtling into the crowd. The woman was in a coma for a month and sued Macy's and New York City for a whopping $395 million. Four additional bystanders were also injured.

*All images courtesy of Google