A Parade of Events

Thanksgiving morning! Heroine’s day begins in the kitchen helping Mother stuff Tom Turkey. Task done, they lug the heavy roaster to the oven then hurry to the living room where the family has gathered. Hero has just arrived. Father turns on the television set and tunes into the Thanksgiving Day parade.

At this point, a writer of historical fiction who wishes to accurately portray the era, might ask this question:

Did the Thanksgiving Day parade exist during the time period of this story, and if so, had it been broadcast on television?

If the story is set in 1959, this family would probably be eagerly waiting for the first national television broadcast of the Thanksgiving Day parade. Every year thereafter, with the exception of a few years during World War 2, the parade provided television entertainment on Thanksgiving morning.

Before television, as early as 1931, radio aired the event. So the family gathering described above could be tweaked so that the family huddles around the radio.

The first Thanksgiving Day parades marched down the streets of Detroit and Philadelphia in 1921. It wasn’t until 1924 that New York City’s Macy’s Parade trekked to Herald Square. Absent television and radio, enjoying these spectacular events would have been limited to curbside seating.

Participants included the stores’ employees, marching bands, floats and balloons. Macy’s used live animals from the Central Park Zoo until 1928, at which time balloons replaced zoo critters. The arrival of Santa Claus at the end of the parade kicked off the Christmas buying season, a marketing strategy designed by the local department stores who sponsored the parades.

If our Hero, Heroine and family live in, or near, one of these three cities, they may have bundled up against a brisk morning and traveled to the parade site. Aha! Perhaps Heroine is a department store employee planning to walk the parade route. Hero might be a clown. Oh my, picture Father playing Santa Claus.

But what if the time period or setting precludes a parade? What might Thanksgiving Day look like?

Football!

In 1867, the first collegiate Thanksgiving Day game played in Philadelphia. Thereafter, the holiday game grew in popularity at both college and high school levels.

Professional football offered a Thanksgiving Day game as early as the 1890’s. The National Football League’s first Turkey Day game played on November 25, 1920, and the first televised football game was in 1953.

So, following the parade, Hero, Heroine and family may have watched football on television or found a local game to attend.

Traveling even further back in time, prior to the days of parades and football, a family’s Thanksgiving celebration would likely have been limited to a special meal. If a writer were inclined, researching the local traditions of the time period and setting might glean some story-enhancing tidbits. However, in the absence of such information, the tradition of feasting with family and friends would be a safe choice that would maintain the integrity of the story.

Thanksgiving Evening! The parade is over; Hero, Heroine and the family have devoured the turkey; and the final touchdown has scored.

Time for another piece of pie!

Jeannine Brummett lives in South Carolina with her husband of nineteen years, Don, who shares his three adult sons and three grandchildren with her. Reading is big on her list of things to do, but she also thrives on TV crime dramas, NBA basketball, and marvels at the critters and fowl life that live at the pond behind their house. She loves to sing praise songs, attend Bible Study, and help at a local food pantry.