A festive holiday bounty of marching bands, fancy floats and giant bobbing balloons wowed some 3 million revelers at the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade yesterday — bringing welcome cheer to the storm-torn city.
It was a picture-perfect 55-degree day with crowds standing five deep, gazing in wonderment as 16 helium-balloon characters — including Spider-Man, Hello Kitty, Papa Smurf (pictured), Buzz Lightyear and Mickey Mouse — passed along the parade route, which began at Central Park West, turned onto Central Park South, went down Sixth Avenue and ended at Macy’s Herald Square.
“It means a lot,” Karen Panetta, of hard-hit Broad Channel, Queens, said as she took in the festivities from a special viewing section for some 5,000 residents displaced by Hurricane Sandy.
PHOTOS: MACY’S THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE
“We’re thankful to be here and actually be a family and to feel like life’s a little normal today.”
Some paradegoers had camped out overnight to get a good spot to watch the Rockettes kick up a storm, performances by Carly Rae Jepsen and Rachel Crow of “The X Factor,” and scenes from Broadway shows like “Annie.”
An estimated 50 million people watched the 86th annual parade on television.
Alan Batt’s 11-year-old twins, Kyto and Elina, had no problem seeing everything. They hauled two tall stepladders — one for each twin — from their apartment eight blocks away.
“We’re New Yorkers,” said Batt, 65. “We know what we’re doing.”
Jim Sauer, 42, an accountant from Kips Bay, was watching the floats and balloons with his 4-year-old daughter, Hayley, who was wearing a holiday headdress she had made in school.
“I bring Hayley every year,” he said. “It’s tough to get through the crowd. But it’s worth it for her to be able to see the balloons.”
Staten Islander Taylor Corey waved to Santa in his float pulled by reindeer. She shouted to him that she wanted an Easy Bake Oven for Christmas. “He heard me, so I hope I get it,” she said.
Fourth-grader Tiffany Bohler, 9, from Pennsylvania, was so excited she couldn’t sleep the night before.
“I woke up at 1 a.m., and I couldn’t go back to sleep. Normally, I get up at 6 a.m.,” she said. “I’m having so much fun.”