Detroit Evening Report: City’s 97th annual Thanksgiving Day parade to kick off weekend of festivities
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Colorful floats from Detroit's 2021 Thanksgiving Parade.
Detroiters will be out in force Thursday morning to watch the 97th annual America’s Thanksgiving Day parade.
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Dozens of floats — including three new designs by Barton Malow, Corewell Health and The Skillman Foundation — and hundreds of participants will march down Woodward Avenue, with TV journalist Huel Perkins and former Detroit Lion Lomas Brown serving as the grand marshals of this year’s event. This year’s parade will also feature six balloons, including a new Captain Underpants balloon, and 11 local high school marching bands.
The parade kicks off at 8:45 a.m. on Woodward Avenue and Kirby near the main library and marches south to Congress in downtown Detroit. It will also be broadcast live on WDIV-TV.
The parade is just the first of a whole weekend of activities that Detroiters have been waiting for.
The Detroit Lions play their annual Thanksgiving Day game against the Green Bay Packers Thursday afternoon with a 12:30 p.m. kickoff. The Lions have a record of eight wins and two losses — that’s the best 10-game record the team has had since 1962. The Packers are 4-6. The game at Ford Field will be televised on Fox.
Other headlines for Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2023:
- For professional football fans, there will be two other NFL games tomorrow and for the first time ever, the league will hold a game on Black Friday.
- No. 2 ranked Ohio State will play No. 3 ranked University of Michigan on Saturday, with the winner going on to play in the Big Ten Championship game. Kick-off is at noon in Ann Arbor.
- AAA says it expects more than 1.5 million Michigan residents to travel more than 50 miles from home over the long Thanksgiving weekend.
- City of Detroit offices will be closed tomorrow and Friday. Metered parking enforcement will be suspended tomorrow and Friday as well, and the city says there will be no garbage or recycling pick up Thursday.
Editor’s note: The Detroit Evening Report will take a few days off for the Thanksgiving holiday (excluding DER Weekends), but we’ll be back on Monday, Nov. 27.
Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.
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