6ABC/Boscov's Thanksgiving Day Parade

New York has the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and, well, Philadelphia has one too. Philadelphia, often unfairly, is used to taking a back seat to the lights and glamour of New York City. Philadelphia's Thanksgiving Day Parade doesn't deserve that. In fact, our Thanksgiving Day Parade was the nation's first, dating back to 1920. Take that, New York.

The 6ABC/Boscov's Thanksgiving Day Parade, as it is now known, lasts more than three hours and features 13 marching bands, floats, balloons, a 1,000-member youth choir, a tap dance troupe, and as if that wasn't enough, Mickey Mouse and all the other Disney cartoon characters. And at the end: Santa. Yes, that's right, on Thanksgiving Santa is coming to town, bringing with him the Philadelphia Holiday Festival. The parade kicks off a month of holiday celebrations, like the lighting of the City Hall Christmas tree, the lights at Lord & Taylor, and performances of the Nutcracker and the Velveteen Rabbit. And of course, as is only fitting, one celebratory parade bookends another: the Mummers Parade will end what the Thanksgiving Day Parade began.

6ABC/Boscov’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Thu., Nov. 27, 8:30 a.m.-noon, free, 20th and Market sts. to City Hall, and the Parkway to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

—Alex Koppelman

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