Security prep 'robust' for Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch says

Even without any credible or specific threats to Thursday's Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, New York City officials said they have made "robust " security preparations for the holiday event with a global audience.

At a news briefing Wednesday evening in advance of the parade, both Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch took a moment to mention the shootings earlier in the day of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., in the context of parade security preparations. Tisch noted that she and her staff would monitor events in Washington as they developed overnight.

"Unfortunately, what has happened in the last few hours is indicative of attacks against law enforcement across the country," Tisch said, adding that the possibility of such threats has been built into NYPD planning for police deployment at Thursday's parade.

The 99th version of the parade, which began in 1924, will be seen by some 3.5 million people estimated to line the 2.5-mile parade route in Manhattan, with some 50 million more watching on television, Tisch said. 

According to the National Weather Service, the temperature is forecast to be in the low 40s when the parade kicks off about 8:30 a.m. at 77th Street and Central Park West before making its way down Sixth Avenue and ending in Herald Square.

Tisch said officials will be monitoring wind conditions in the morning and if necessary, make adjustments in the way parade balloons are handled. If wind gusts hit 35 mph, Minnie Mouse, Spiderman, Dora and the rest of the balloon characters would be grounded according to city rules.

Tisch said the NYPD will be deploying a number of measures, including thousands of police officers both in and out of uniform.

The police commissioner, joined by Adams on Wednesday on Manhattan's Upper West Side, where crews were inflating the parade balloons, said additional security will include drones, bomb sniffing dogs, radiation detectors and specially armed officers as well as aviation units.

Spectators will be barred from bringing large bags, beach chairs, aerial devices like drones, pets, alcoholic beverages, umbrellas and coolers, according to police. Public viewing areas to watch the parade will be set up on the west side of Central Park West, the south side of Central Park South and along the Sixth Avenue parade route, according to Macy’s parade organizers.

The parade traditionally marks the start of the holiday season in New York City and involves 5,000 volunteers, 34 balloons, 28 floats, 11 marching bands, nine performance groups and more than two dozen singers and performers, Macy’s officials said.

Tisch noted that crosstown traffic through the Central Park traverse roads will be suspended during the parade, and crosstown traffic in Manhattan will also be affected.

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.comtonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.