2020 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade: How to stream live, when to watch and who's performing

This year’s 94th edition of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will be unlike any ever before — and you can watch all the historic, COVID-safe festivities right here on Yahoo Entertainment.

When to watch

Beginning at 9 a.m. ET/6 a.m. PT on Thursday, Nov. 26, the parade will follow a severely truncated route down Broadway; instead of traversing two-plus miles from New York’s Upper West Side to Herald Square cheered on by tens of thousands of spectators, the signature balloons and floats will only move along the block in front of Macy’s flagship store on 34th Street, with nary an onlooker allowed.

While upwards of 10,000 crew members typically staff the streets, wrangle balloons and shepherd performers, this year’s proceedings will only have 1,500.

Who’s performing

The livestream, presented by Verizon and hosted by Mario Lopez, will featured a mix of live and pre-recorded performances from Dolly Parton, Patti LaBelle, Lauren Alaina, Jimmie Allen and Noah Cyrus, Ally Brooke, Sofia Carson, CNCO, Jimmy Fallon and the Roots, Karol G, Tori Kelly, Ella Mai, Miss America 2020 Camille Schrier, the Sesame Street Muppets and cast, Leslie Odom Jr., Keke Palmer, Pentatonix, Bebe Rexha, Jordin Sparks, Sebastia n Yatra, and Brett Young.

Additionally, the casts of such Broadway hits as Hamilton, Mean Girls, Jagged Little Pill and Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations — idled since March by the pandemic — have recorded special numbers for the show, while the high-kicking Radio City Music Hall Rockettes will also make their traditional appearance. (Verizon is the parent company of Yahoo.)

What balloons and floats will be in this year’s parade

All the balloons in the 2020 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (Images courtesy of Macy's)
All the balloons in the 2020 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (Images courtesy of Macy's)

The lineup of balloons includes such stalwarts as Snoopy, SpongeBob, Trolls, Smokey Bear, Pikachu, Elf on the Shelf, Ronald McDonald and Pillsbury Doughboy. Newcomers this year include Boss Baby and Red Titan, the main character from the animated YouTube series Ryan’s World. (You can see all of this year’s balloons in the GIF above.)

Tom and Jerry will be featured on a float, with Lifetime, Jennie-O Turkey and Olay making their parade debuts with floats (see renderings below).

Tom and Jerry, Lifetime, Olay and Jennie-O are the new floats in this year's parade. (Images courtesy of Macy's)
Tom and Jerry, Lifetime, Olay and Jennie-O are the new floats in this year's parade. (Images courtesy of Macy's)

More information on the parade lineup can be found at the Macy’s website.

Per tradition, Santa Claus will bring the proceedings to a close. Immediately following the conclusion of the parade at noon ET/9 a.m. PT, on-demand replays will be available above.

A QR code will be available within the livestream across all platforms, where viewers can easily scan the code for a second-screen experience.