For 100 years America’s Thanksgiving Parade® has delighted generations of Detroiters. Since its debut in 1924, The Parade has grown into one of the city’s most cherished traditions. It fills the streets with dazzling floats, balloons, marchers, and community spirit.
This colorful, interactive new exhibition features festive artifacts from the Parade Company archives and the Detroit Historical Society collection. Explore the parade’s many milestones: from Santa Claus’s first appearance in 1924, to its first radio broadcast in 1931, the first celebrity guest appearance in 1935 (Detroit Free Press sports columnist Iffy the Dopester), the first parade held entirely on Woodward Avenue in 1956, and even the year that Lassie the Dog served as Grand Marshall in 1964. Learn the origins of favorite parade elements, including its marching bands and larger-than-life balloons, as well as beloved traditions like the Fred Hill Briefcase Drill Team, Distinguished Clown Corps, and the Big Heads.
Young visitors can try on a clown costume in the exhibition’s costume corner, and the whole family can in pose for a photo on Santa’s throne.
