Philadelphia’s 105th Thanksgiving Day parade left folks wet but delighted

Ashley Anders, of Center City, can’t remember missing a Thanksgiving Day parade in her entire 49 years. She also can’t remember a Thanksgiving Day when it rained during the entire event. She’s attended when it has been 80 degrees and when it was freezing — but never when it was raining. Until this year.

On Thursday, AccuWeather’s forecast of heavy rain proved accurate, but the 6abc Dunkin’ Thanksgiving Day Parade went on and parade veterans like the Anders family showed up ready for a good time. And they weren’t disappointed. Balloons, floats, marching bands, and dancers took to the streets, warming the hearts of thousands of stalwart fans as the nation’s oldest Thanksgiving Day parade set off for its 105th year.

“It’s a party marching through the city,” 6abc meteorologist Karen Rogers said on TV during the parade’s livecast.

Perched at 16th Street and JFK Boulevard, where the parade route turned to start its trek up the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Terese Grondin, too, was undeterred by the weather. She was visiting from Michigan and had traveled with her son, Patrick, and granddaughter, Murphy, “just to see the parade.”

Murphy Grondin, who at 9 has already participated in a parade in her hometown, said it was the dancers who were her all-time favorite performers. There were 17 dance organizations in this year’s parade lineup, including the Pennsylvania Academy of Dance Arts, Reckless Kickz Hip-Hop Dance Team, and Upper Main Line YMCA.

The parade started as an idea from Ellis Gimbel of the Gimbel Brothers department store. Gimbels was once a major retailer at Eighth and Market Streets. The first parade, in 1920, had 15 cars decorated in crepe paper, 50 department store employees decked out in costumes, and firemen pulling their wagons. For the next 66 years, Santa Claus’ climb up a fire truck’s ladder and into the eighth-floor window of the department store signaled the end of the parade and the start of the Christmas season. In 1986, the parade was rerouted to its current route ending at the Art Museum.

During the decades, the parade has grown larger and become a beloved family tradition.

Anders said her family is now on the third generation enjoying the parade. Her family has several parade-related traditions starting with setting up a canopy with heaters, beach chairs, and a full cooler in front of the former bar, Mace’s Crossing, at 17th and Cherry Streets. Anders’ husband, Tom Greenwalt, who grew up in Reading and didn’t really attend Thanksgiving Day parades, manages setup, which started at 6:15 a.m. this year.

This year is particularly poignant for the Anders family.

Anders’ father, Marshall Anders, 78, insisted on coming to the parade despite his cancer diagnosis. He had finished a chemotherapy session only a few day earlier.

It was the elder Anders who started the tradition of spending family time at the Thanksgiving parade with his daughter and son, Chris. Ashley Anders said her father’s favorite performers have always been the marching bands. Fourteen bands, one from as far as Nevada, and some dressed in raincoats, defied the weather to perform this year as Marshall Anders watched from his room in The Terrace on 18th overlooking the Parkway.

Three-month-old Ellie Aminian was at her first Thanksgiving parade. Her mother had her bundled against the cold and rain, and while she wouldn’t tell us who her favorite performer was, she did give us a toothless grin of delight. “We just moved into Center City,” said Narsis Aminian, Ellie’s mother. “We want to experience everything Center City.”

Rarely has there been a Thanksgiving Day without a parade in Philly. World Wars I and II couldn’t halt the festivities and neither could the Great Depression. Only twice in parade history has the show not gone on: in 1971 because of weather and in 2020 because of the pandemic. The city came close to losing the parade when Gimbel Brothers closed in 1986, but at the last minute WPVI-TV/6abc stepped in and still remains lead sponsor, bringing celebrities and performance groups with them.

Special guests this year included Abbott Elementary actor Lisa Ann Walter, Good Morning America weathercaster Sam Champion, singer CeCe Peniston, and the band the Ladies of Chic, among others.

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, joined by her son and attending her first Thanksgiving parade as mayor, called the rain “liquid sunshine.”

“Great energy, lots of smiles,” she said. “One Philly, united city. I am excited today. We have a lot to be thankful for. Of course our families and everyone in our village … As long as we stay united, together, we can do anything.”