Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Boss Takes Us Behind the Scenes of This Year's Spectacle

Across the Hudson River, less than a 15 mile drive from the starting point of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, is Macy's Studios, where the magic is made.

While the big show takes place on the fourth Thursday in November, the annual spectacle itself is a yearlong process starting with sketches that turn into 3D renderings, before being brought to life on the studio floor, where they are sculpted and receive a layer of hard coating to ensure that the elements are more durable and can then be painted.

Ahead of the 98th march, which will feature six new floats, six new character balloons as well as new technology, Parade went behind the scenes of the cherished holiday tradition with its executive producer, Will Coss.

"We bring joy. That's something that we don't take lightly here at Macy's Studios. We have an opportunity to bring three-and-a-half hours of joy," Coss told Parade during a visit to Macy's Studios in late October. "We have an eclectic audience. We take that very seriously."

"We want to make sure, from a performance standpoint, from a character standpoint, from a production and special effects standpoint, we're taking into consideration our entire audience and delivering on a little bit of joy," Coss added. "This is an iconic tradition that brings people together."

Continue reading (and watch above) to learn how Will and the skilled artisans at Macy’s Studios bring a sketch to the streets of New York City—and our screens—on Thanksgiving morning.

When does preparation begin on the floats? When do you decide if we're adding this new one, or we're going to do a partnership with this brand?

Coss: The conversations around the new elements of the parade is a year-round process. Each individual float itself is anywhere from three-to-six months of full production, from the first time that we start the initial creative concepting to our final execution.

All of our elements that you see across the studio are all hand sculpted and painted. All of these items start with a sketch. So we do a variety of sketches, then we turn them into 3D renders, and then the team gets them down here on the floor, where they start to become real life, three-dimensional objects.

What are some challenges you guys face, or any challenges you encountered this year?

Coss: It's less about challenges. I think this is a really well-prepared team. What you see here are a variety of designers, sculptors, painters [and] carpenters who are all experts at their craft. We might have some production challenges, if we design something that, once it's fabricated, might not fit exactly correctly. [The Wondrous World of Wildlife by Bronx Zoo float], for example, is three separate floats that are connected together to create this one massive experience. So there were some tweaks we had to do to the bridge because it's gonna be a modular float. It's not gonna be one singular unit. So those are things that we work through once we have some physical elements created and we make some tweaks and adjustments. But overall, we've done this a couple of times, we understand the deliverable, and we're excited to bring these brand-new floats to the parade this year.

How do you determine which performers perform on which float? 

Coss: Our goal for the parade is really, it's America's show. Our audience is [ages] 1 to 100, so our focus on our goal is really just creating the most eclectic version of the parade. So we look at all of our floats, we look at all of our off-float performances, and we start to make [those] decisions based on the cadence of the show and making sure that we've got the best playlist on Thanksgiving morning.

Are there going to be any new technologies incorporated into the parade this year?

Coss: What I'd say is our most technologically advanced float that we've ever designed and fabricated ... [is] in partnership with Go Bowling, and it's our first fully animatronic float. Our bowler will have full range of movement, full range of motion. As she makes her way down the parade route, she's going to be able to actually bring the ball all the way back, bend the knee and make the bowling motion. This kind of motion and computerized programming is a new addition to the parade this year.

So how will this work?  

Coss: So [Macy's Studios employee Matt's] doing all the programming right now, and that'll live on a computer on the float itself... There'll be a driver and a passenger, and the passenger will be the one who will be responsible for controlling the animation. So there'll be a variety of buttons.

How do you decide which floats you're going to recycle from a previous year? And same with the balloons? Some come back, some don't.

Coss: It's a conversation with our internal team on, ultimately, what will make the best parade and the choices that we make obviously impact the line of march. So we want to make sure that we're telling both a creative story, a visual story ... all of those decisions happen well in advance of our production year.

Related: Take a Look Back at the 2023 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Balloons

How many people generally work on each float, or how many studio members are there?

Coss: At any given time, we have upwards of 30 folks, from sculpt to paint to metal work to our balloon team.

Are the balloons and floats stored here year-round?

Coss: We have a storage facility. So not all of our balloons and floats are stored here. Some of them are... All of our giant balloons get stored in hampers.

How long is the process of creating a new balloon for the Macy's Day Parade?

Coss: Depending on the complexity of the character, it can take upwards of three-to-four months for any one balloon to get fully designed and fabricated.

What are you most excited for viewers to see this year in the parade?

Coss: I'm most excited for viewers to see all of our brand-new elements. I think that the collection of characters that we have this year are fantastic. We've got classics, like Spider-Man who's been in the parade a variety of times. Gabby's Dollhouse. Gabby is a brand new character that's really tracking well with our younger audiences. I think we've done a really nice job of having an eclectic group of balloons that are gonna touch a variety of audiences and get people excited.

Related: 60 of Thanksgiving Songs That Will Make You Feel Instantly Grateful (And Probably Hungry!)

After all these years of doing this, what surprises you every year?

Coss: I don't know that it's surprise. I'd say the thing that excites me the most, is parade morning when you have [a] year to 18 months worth of work all situated on the Upper West Side. You've got two-and-a-half miles of parade, 3 million plus people, and it's just smiles, it's joy, it's excitement, and everyone is there to celebrate the hard work of this team, the hard work of our partners, all the creative and talented folks across Macy's Studios.

Hoda [Kotb] is retiring [from TODAY] next year. Are there plans to keep her on for the parade? Would you like to see her stay on?

Hoda is a Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade icon, a legend, and we look forward to celebrating with Hoda as long as Hoda is here to celebrate with us.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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