Thanksgiving Day Parade

From initial sketch to final assembly, the complex process of creating a new Macy's float requires countless detail-oriented craftspeople.



Long before you see a float sailing down Broadway, it has been designed, built and cared for by a skilled staff of artists, engineers, animators and crafts-people. The first step is the creation of a color sketch.	Once the sketch is approved, exact scale drawings of the float are made.	Construction begins with a simple framework called a floatbed. This holds the platforms and extensions that give each float its own unique shape.	Figures are sculpted at the Macy's Parade Studio in Hoboken, New Jersey, just across the Hudson River from Manhattan.



Props give a compelling setting and dimension to the figures. A variety of materials are used, such as wood, steel, fiberglass, foam and fabric.	Animators bring the float elements to life.	Construction progresses with the addition of oversized sculptures.	Each element is hand-painted to the exact colors on the rendering.



The floats are fully assembled in the studio before the parade.	Once construction and assembly are complete, the float and its elements are then packed up to fit through the Lincoln Tunnel for the short trip into Manhattan. A 24-foot-wide, 40-foot-high float must fold up to be only 8 feet wide and 12 feet, 6 inches high - an engineering challenge!	On the morning of the parade, each float is unfolded and assembled to its full height for a spectacular trip down Broadway.