The Macy's show returns to New York normally after last year's virtual edition

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NEW YORK - The Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, which was hit by the coronavirus pandemic last year, returns this Thursday in full, albeit with precautions.

Balloons, floats, marching bands, clowns and entertainers - and of course, Santa Claus - will once again travel 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) starting on Manhattan's Upper West Side and ending in Midtown, rather than being limited to a single block. or, sometimes, of being prerecorded last year.

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Spectators, excluded in 2020, will be able to travel the route again.

Music bands from colleges and universities across the country have been invited again, as most of the artists last year were local to reduce travel.

The giant balloons, tied to vehicles last year, once again have their assistants in disguise.

The parade will begin at 9 a.m. (ET) at West 77th Street and Central Park West, but audiences will have little or no limited viewing at that location.

“Last year was obviously symbolic.

It was not everything that we would have liked to see in a parade, but they kept it, "said Mayor Bill de Blasio at a press conference on Wednesday.

"This year, the parade is back in full swing," he said.

A balloon of Grogu, also known as Baby Yoda, from the Star Wars series 'The Mandalorian', prepares for the Macy's Thanksgiving parade in New York, Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2021. Ted Shaffrey / AP

"It is going to be a great sign of our rebirth," he added.

The Thanksgiving parade is the latest holiday event in America to be held again, as vaccinations, familiarity, and sheer frustration have made authorities and some of the public more comfortable with the big gatherings in between. of the pandemic.

Even so, the security measures continue.

Parade staff and volunteers must be vaccinated against COVID-19 and wear masks, although some singers and performers may shed them.

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Spectators are not required to get vaccinated, but Macy's encourages them to cover their faces.

A popular pre-parade show - the inflation of the giant balloons - was limited to vaccinated spectators.

The Thanksgiving event also comes days after an SUV driver struck a Christmas parade in suburban Milwaukee, killing six people and injuring more than 60. Authorities said the driver, who has been charged of intentional homicide, he was fleeing at full speed from the police after a domestic dispute.

Pikachu balloon for the Macy's parade in New York, Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2021.Ted Shaffrey / AP

De Blasio said Wednesday that there was no credible and specific threat to the Thanksgiving parade, but that the New York Police Department's security measures would be extensive, as usual.

"I am very confident in what the New York Police Department has prepared to keep everyone safe tomorrow," he said.

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Thousands of police officers are assigned to the parade route, from the streets to the rooftops.

Cars are blocked in the parade route with sand-filled garbage trucks, other heavy vehicles, and approximately 360,000 pounds (163,000 kilograms) of concrete barriers.

Bomb-sniffing dogs, bomb squad officers, heavy weapons teams, radiation and chemical sensors and more than 300 additional cameras have also been dispatched to the parade route, according to the New York Police Chief for the fight against terrorism, Martine Materasso.

Inside the barricades, the parade has about 8,000 participants, four dozen balloons of various sizes and two dozen floats.

Balloon inflation for the Macy's parade in New York, Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2021.Jeenah Moon / AP

New globes joining the lineup include Netflix series title character

;

the Pokémon characters Pikachu and Eevee on a sled (Pikachu has appeared before, in different form), and Grogu, aka Baby Yoda, from the television series

.

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The new floats come from entities ranging from condiment maker Heinz to

service

Peacock from our parent company NBCUniversal and the Louisiana Office of Tourism.

Artists and celebrities include Carrie Underwood, Jon Batiste, Nelly, Kelly Rowland, Miss America Camille Schrier, the Foreigner band, and many others.

Various casts of Broadway musicals and the Radio City Rockettes are also scheduled to perform.