Parade goes forward with fun and festivities, and a protest

NEW YORK (PIX11) -- For nearly a century, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade has brought happiness and joy to millions of people along the parade route and many millions more watching on TV and online.

This year's parade kept traditions alive and included a few new elements, including one unexpected one: a pro-Palestinian protest. 

As Madelyn Suttle, who had traveled from Huntsville, Alabama, pointed out, the beginning of the 97th annual parade saw one of many firsts.

"It's the first time that an HBCU led the parade," she said, about Alabama A&M University's marching band and dancers.

The breathtaking moves and music from the historically black college impressed the crowd. 

Other firsts: the parade was half an hour longer and included seven new balloons, like Snoopy the Beagle instead of Eagle, Scout.  

Some three million people lined the route in person, including many local residents, like the Weitzman Family of Long Island. The dozens of extended family members wore matching hoodies emblazoned with a slogan saying they'd been attending the event off and on since 1964.

"We've been coming here for 25 years [and] haven't missed one Thanksgiving with the entire family right here," their patriarch pointed out. "We love it," he continued. "We love PIX11, we love New York!"

The PIX11 shoutout was unsolicited from them or celebrities who also mentioned New York's Very Own local news station, like the award-winning R&B and hip-hop trio Bell Biv DeVoe.

"It's one of the biggest moments you see on television from January to December," said Michael Bivins, one of the three band members. "There's nothing like the Thanksgiving Day Parade, and nothing like being on PIX, either."

The group was among many celebrities in the parade's lineup. Kel Mitchell, one half of the comedy duo Kenan and Kel, said he appreciated the New York-style welcome. 

"It's so much love, man," Mitchell said, pointing from the sidewalks, to windows in skyscrapers lining the route. "All the way up top, we're loving it."

The fun was everywhere but came to a brief halt around an hour after the parade began. That's when some pro-Palestinian demonstrators sat in the roadway along the route, on the Avenue of the Americas, near 44th Street, and waited to be arrested by police. 

The NYPD's Band and Mounted Unit came down the route shortly after their detention. Macy's own historic float was among the reminders of a theme that paradegoer Georgia Valrie stated.

"Who doesn't like the Big Apple?" she said. 

Echoing that sentiment was Sheryl Lee Ralph, a tri-state native and Tony, Emmy, Peabody, and SAG Award-winning actress. 

"This is what believing looks like," she said, from the balcony of the final float in the parade. 

She was on it because it's the platform on which Santa and Mrs. Claus sit. This year, Ralph played Mrs. Claus.

Their presence wrapped up the parade, officially inaugurating the rest of the holiday season.