Thursday, the 82^nd annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was kicked off, flooding the streets of Manhattan with giant balloons that paid tribute to several animated characters such as action-figure astronaut from the 1995 film “Toy Story” Buzz Lightyear, Horton, the elephant from Dr. Seuss books, one of the Smurfs, Kermit the frog and Energizer Bunny, among others.

Thousands of marchers strolled down the 2.5-mile route from Central Park to Herald Square, in front of Macy's flagship store, the estimated number having reached 3.5 million people, while another 50 million watched the parade on television.

The event featured 28 floats, 10 marching bands and performances by Miley Cyrus, Trace Adkins, James Taylor and the Radio City Rockettes, in what executive producer Robin Hall called a pageant of American culture.

Wednesday evening, workers inflated 13 giant and 31 smaller balloon in front of the revelers, each giant balloon having claimed more than 5,000 cubic feet of helium so as to be filled.

The entire parade required approximately 300,000 cubic feet of helium, which was supplied by Linde North America, the company hoping to recover and recycle much of the helium, as official Nick Haines has stated.

The parade began in 1924 and it was halted for two years during World War II, since helium and rubber were in short supply, having been resumed in 1945, when the war ended. This year, Macy’s has celebrated its 150th anniversary since Rowland Hussey Macy founded the company and opened for business on October 28, 1858.