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All the strangest things Canadians missed at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

From Dwayne Johnson’s fanny pack to a #Butterman, plus a 'Holly Dolly Christmas' performance...
by Christine Estima
November 27, 2020 9:50 a.m. EST
November 30, 2020 2:22 p.m. EST
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If you’re like many Canadians, you may have never actually been to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in Manhattan. Sure you’ve seen it on TV and in movies, but even then, being Canadian means your frame of reference for the iconic parade that has been hitting 34th Street since 1924 is probably this… Luckily your bewilderment is not just your own, because even Americans didn’t recognize the parade this year. Naturally, because of the COVID-19 global pandemic and the need to maintain physical distance for safety, the parade this year wasn’t exactly parading. The 2.5 mile parade route was scaled down to just one block, and it was cordoned off to the public; the route was used only for television purposes. Most of the performances, like from the cast of Broadway’s Hamilton and Jagged Little Pill, were pre-recorded over a period of three days. Even Dolly Parton, who offered up a twist on the classic “Holly Jolly Christmas” was like, “I’ll perform this from a safe distance, thanks.” (We’re paraphrasing here.)
From the actual parade route, there was a lot that viewers and fans on Twitter had to gab about. Case in point: to promote his new show Young Rock, Dwayne Johnson sent up a balloon of his iconic 1990 fanny pack look. We have no choice but to stan. While the parade route was decidedly devoid of people (take a look at Karol G’s performance here to see just how quiet it was), that doesn’t mean Al Roker from The Today Show couldn’t have some fun. Last year he had a run-in with a man dressed up as a stick of butter, and it seems #Butterman is now a holiday tradition. Oh Al, we’re glad just to see you out and about.As with most live broadcasts, there were some glitches. We’re not sure what happened here with this Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles float that also had the Grammy nominated band CNCO atop it for a performance, but you can clearly hear organizers on their headsets saying, “Like how do you mess that up? You had one job!” For a little Canadian content, the cast of Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill showed up to perform “You Learn,” but it didn’t exactly land with many viewers. The musical may have broken Tony Award nomination records, but nobody does Alanis like Alanis. [video_embed id='2084929']RELATED: Alanis Morissette on her greatest joy, TikTok, and making music with her young family [/video_embed]Viewers were almost setting up a barricade for a revolt when the NBC feed cut away from the legendary Patti Labelle for no apparent reason. You don’t do our queen dirty like this!
But at least the performance of Hamilton was there to calm it all down and remind us that, when this is all over, theatre will greet us back with open arms.
Until next year, Macy’s! Hopefully you’ll bring the miracles back to 34th Street![video_embed id='-1']BEFORE YOU GO: You'll never be as excited for anything in your life as this kid is for an 'Aquaman' toy [/video_embed]

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