New York’s Thanksgiving Day parade got under way yesterday with huge crowds lining city streets from Central Park to Herald Square amid tight security.
As thousands of people applauded marching bands, elaborate floats and enormous balloons – bearing the likenesses of SpongeBob SquarePants, Mickey Mouse, Angry Birds and other comic creatures – a huge contingent of thousands of police patrolled the 2.5-mile (4km) parade route.
With the festive event coming just weeks after the October 31 truck attack on a bike path in New York that killed eight people – many of them foreign tourists – the city went all-out to ensure security yesterday.
Massive dump trucks were parked at intersections to prevent just such an incident, along with concrete barriers.
Police Chief Terence Monahan said aviation units, heavy weapons teams, canine units and observation teams were deployed in extraordinary efforts to ensure security.
The truck attack came at the end of a month that began with another assault on people massed in a public place – the shooting that targeted thousands of concertgoers in Las Vegas, killing 58.
Paradegoers in New York seemed aware of that history but appeared in a festive mood under sunny but frigid skies, as Americans across the country – and those posted in distant lands – celebrated their annual day devoted to family gatherings and the giving of thanks.
While people in New York were shivering, families gathered in southern California were baking along with their turkeys, with temperatures set to soar past 90° Fahrenheit (32° Celsius).
On the other side of the country, at his Mar-a-Lago retreat in Florida, President Donald Trump used video links to offer his, and the nation’s, thanks to troops in Afghanistan, Bahrain, Iraq, Turkey and on the USS Monterey guided-missile cruiser, at sea with the Fifth Fleet.
Sitting at a desk before a large computer screen, Trump told the troops they were “very, very special people”.
Addressing those in Afghanistan, he said, “everyone is talking about the progress you’ve made”, and to those in Iraq, he said: “We’re really winning.”
He told them that at home, “we’re doing well” and “the economy is doing great”.
A child waits in line at the annual Thanksgiving in the Park gathering, where residents of the farm worker community of Immokalee are provided with a free meal, Immokalee, Florida. Now in its 36th year, the event is sponsored by area faith based organisations.
