America’s Thanksgiving Parade is ready to roll
The Parade Company President and CEO Tony Michaels says the event takes sponsors, many dedicated volunteers, and a whole year to plan.
Detroit's Thanksgiving Parade celebrates Motown
Detroit loves a parade. Hundreds of thousands of people line Woodward Avenue each Thanksgiving to watch a stream of floats, marching bands, balloons, and celebrities make their way from midtown to downtown.
The 2025 parade will be the 99th in the city’s history. Only Philadelphia’s Thanksgiving parade is older.
Tony Michaels is the president and CEO of The Parade Company, which organizes the event. He says it takes a whole year to plan.
“It’s a massive, massive undertaking,” he says. “We’re building 120-foot floats, we’re selling sponsorships, we’re making sure sponsors are taken care of.”
In addition to The Parade Company’s staff, Michaels says about 2,000 volunteers sign up to help. Some carry banners, others hold balloon leads or drive floats.
“They do so much, it’s unbelievable, and without them, we cannot pull this off,” he says.
The parade begins in the Cultural Center district near the Detroit Public Library and the Detroit Institute of Arts. It proceeds about three miles south to Campus Martius.
Michaels estimates nearly 1 million people will line the parade route.
Stars shine
This year’s event will be Mike Duggan’s last parade as mayor. He’s one of the grand marshals, along with retired WDIV-TV news anchor Devin Scillian.
Michaels says they won’t be the only celebrities taking part. Detroit-born Actor Sam Richardson is scheduled to appear. He co-created and starred in the Comedy Central series “Detroiters” with Tim Robinson.
“We have Christopher McDonald, who played Shooter McGavin in the ‘Happy Gilmore’ movies,” Michaels says. “And we have Dexter Bussey, one of the great Detroit Lions.”
A century of tradition
The J. L. Hudson Company sponsored the first Thanksgiving parade in 1924. It has been held every year since except 1943 and 1944 due to World War II. The 2020 parade took place in a different location without spectators because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2025 parade will pass by the new Hudson’s Detroit tower.
Gardner-White is the parade’s presenting sponsor. WDIV-TV will televise the event.
