Chicago Thanksgiving Parade

1999: Target joins Marshal Field's as the title sponsor. The parade is moved back to State Street, and for the first time, takes place on Thanksgiving Day.

2006; McDonald's Owners of Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana partners with CFA and parade assumes name of "McDonald's Thanksgiving Parade."

2007: WGN America and CFA announce parade is to be broadcast live and in high definition on WGN America. Available in 72 million homes at the time, Superstation WGN (now WGN America) began airing the parade live across the nation. This established the parade as one of three parades in the country to be broadcast live, nationally, in its entirety.

2008: The parade celebrated its 75th step-off with a three-hour live broadcast. The first hour of the parade features the best in theatre and culture, with the rest of the parade featuring traditional, forward motion parade units.

Today: The Chicago Thanksgiving Parade takes place on historic State Street, from Congress Parkway to Randolph Street, on Thanksgiving morning. The parade is televised LIVE on WGN America and WGN Television, available in approximately 80 million homes.

Millions of viewers from across the world watch the parade on TV, live-stream online, and engage with live social media photos and videos.

Thousands of participants from all across the United States, and internationally from Switzerland, Mexico, Australia, Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Canada and more have traveled to Chicago to be part of Chicago’s Parade.