This article needs additional citations for verification .(May 2014) |
The Celebrate the Season Parade is one of the traditional parades held each year in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is held on the Saturday after Thanksgiving Day; that is, the last Saturday in November. It is one of the first events that rings in the holiday season and airs annually on WPXI, the local NBC-affiliated television station in Pittsburgh.
The first parade was held in 1980 and aired on local Metromedia affiliate WPGH-TV for the first two seasons and was sponsored by local department store chain Kaufmann's. Kaufmann's merged with Macy's in 2006; from that parade through the 2013 event, Macy's assumed title sponsorship, thus making the parade a smaller sister to the much larger Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade held two days earlier in New York City. WIIC, the local NBC station now known as WPXI, decided to air live coverage of the parade. Its original hosts were Mike Hambrick and Edye Tarbox. David Johnson and Peggy Finnegan took over the hosting duties in 1991. Bob Bruce subbed for David Johnson for the 2002 and 2004 parades. John Fedko, the station's sports director, debuted as a street reporter in 1997, and was joined by a rotating personality from the station every year. Darieth Chisolm joined Fedko for the 2004, 2006 and 2007 parades. Julie Bologna handled street interviews for the 2008 parade along with Fedko. Formally known as the Celebrate the Seasons Parade, from 2010 to 2013, the parade was also known as the My Macy's Holiday Parade'. [1] In February 2014, Macy's Parade Group announced it would end its sponsorship of the parade, citing the need to focus on other projects. WPXI announced that they were saddened by Macy's decision and would work hard on finding a new sponsor before the 2014 parade. [2] By the 2014 parade, Pittsburgh Public Schools joined as the presenting sponsor, with the parade's name changing again, to the WPXI Holiday Parade. [3]
2020 saw no parade on grounds of COVID-19 pandemic. The 41st was deferred to 2021. NBC 11 aired highlights of past parades instead, plus virtual guests.
On September 8, 2021, WPXI announced they are ending their 30-year relationship with the parade. [4] A statement posted on the official Twitter page of the parade saying
"Channel 11 was proud to broadcast the Holiday parade for the past 30 years.
At this time we cannot continue to produce and broadcast the Parade.
We know it is a popular part of the holiday tradition for Pittsburghers and leave the door open to future broadcast opportunities if production partners arise. “
Thank you to all past participants and Parade watchers for the wonderful memories and moments over the years!" [5]
During the two-hour parade, about eighty different acts, local marching bands, floats, balloons, and celebrities take part every year. One of the floats that has appeared in the parade every year is the WPXI float, where some of the station's personalities gather together.
The parade has been popular with some celebrities that grew up in the Pittsburgh area or are nationally renowned. A sampling of some of the celebrities who have taken part:
As is tradition, Santa Claus is always the last person to appear in the parade.
Santa Claus parades, also called Christmas parades, are parades held in some countries to celebrate the official opening of the Christmas season with the arrival of Santa Claus who always appears in the last float. The parades usually include themed floats, dancing or marching groups and bands playing Christmas songs. They are moving pageants that typically end near the centre of a city. Often sponsored by department stores, they may reinforce the store's brand recognition during the important Christmas shopping season.
The Toronto Santa Claus Parade, also branded as The Original Santa Claus Parade, is a Santa Claus parade held annually on the third Sunday of November in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Albert Lincoln Roker Jr. is an American weather presenter, journalist, television personality, and author. He is the current weather anchor on NBC's Today, and occasionally co-hosts 3rd Hour Today. He has an inactive American Meteorological Society Television Seal #238.
A television special is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of entertainment and informational value available via the television medium, in various formats, and in any viewing lengths.
The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is an annual parade in New York City presented by the U.S.-based department store chain Macy's. The Parade first took place in 1924, tying it for the second-oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States with America's Thanksgiving Parade in Detroit. The three-hour parade is held in Manhattan, ending outside Macy's Herald Square, and takes place from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Thanksgiving Day, and has been televised nationally on NBC since 1953. The Parade's workforce is made up of Macy's employees and their friends and family, all of whom work as volunteers.
KDKA-TV is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, serving as the market's CBS outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside Jeannette-licensed independent station WPKD-TV. Both stations share studios at the Gateway Center in downtown Pittsburgh, while KDKA-TV's transmitter is located in the city's Perry North neighborhood. KDKA-TV, along with sister station KYW-TV in Philadelphia, are the only CBS-affiliated television stations east of the Mississippi River with "K" call signs.
WPXI is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Cox Media Group. The station's offices and studios are located on Evergreen Road in the Summer Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Its transmitter is on Television Hill in the Fineview section of the city, at the site of the station's original studio location.
Kaufmann's was a department store that originated in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
WTOV-TV is a television station licensed to Steubenville, Ohio, United States, serving the Wheeling, West Virginia–Steubenville, Ohio market as an affiliate of NBC and Fox. Owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, the station maintains studios and transmitter facilities on Burr Avenue in Mingo Junction, Ohio.
The Florida Citrus Parade was an annual parade in Orlando, Florida which celebrated the holidays and two annual college football bowl games: the Camping World Bowl and the Citrus Bowl.
The Hollywood Christmas Parade is an annual American parade held on the Sunday after Thanksgiving in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It follows a 3.5-mile (5.6 km) route along Hollywood Boulevard, then back along Sunset Boulevard, featuring various celebrities.
WJAC-TV is a television station licensed to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, United States, serving the Johnstown–Altoona–State College market as an affiliate of NBC and The CW Plus. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which provides certain services to Johnstown-licensed Fox affiliate WWCP-TV, channel 8 and Altoona-licensed ABC affiliate WATM-TV, channel 23 under a time brokerage agreement (TBA).
Thanksgiving is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. It is sometimes called American Thanksgiving to distinguish it from the Canadian holiday of the same name and related celebrations in other regions. It originated as a day of thanksgiving and harvest festival, with the theme of the holiday revolving around giving thanks and the centerpiece of Thanksgiving celebrations remaining a Thanksgiving dinner. The dinner traditionally consists of Indigenous cuisine of the Americas: turkey, potatoes, squash, corn (maize), green beans, cranberries, and pumpkin pie. Other Thanksgiving customs include charitable organizations offering thanksgiving dinner for the poor, attending religious services, and watching television events such as Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and NFL football games. Thanksgiving is regarded as the beginning of the Christmas and holiday season, with the day following it, Black Friday, being the busiest shopping day of the year in the United States.
John Fedko is a semi-retired American television sportscaster. He is the former sports director and anchor for Channel 11 Pittsburgh (WPXI). Fedko also reported for Channel 11 News at 6 and 11 pm, and hosted the Fedko Fone Zone, a local sports call-in show on Pittsburgh Cable News Channel (PCNC).
The 6abc Dunkin' Thanksgiving Day Parade is an annual Thanksgiving Day parade held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is presently sponsored and aired by ABC owned-and-operated television station WPVI-TV, through a co-sponsorship agreement with restaurant chain Dunkin'. It is currently the oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States, having been held through the Great Depression & World War II, and was created by Gimbels department store in 1920. The Gimbels Thanksgiving Day Parade was held until the department store closed operations in 1986.
The Chicago Thanksgiving Parade, "Chicago's Grand Holiday Tradition", is an annual parade produced and presented by the Chicago Festival Association (CFA). It is held in downtown Chicago, Illinois, every Thanksgiving morning from 8:00 am until 11:00 am CST. It is televised locally on WCIU-TV; from 2007 to 2019 the event was carried on WGN-TV and its superstation feed nationwide.
America's Thanksgiving Parade is an annual American parade held in downtown Detroit, Michigan each Thanksgiving Day from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. EST. The tradition was started in the city in 1924 by the J. L. Hudson Company department store. It shares the title for the second-oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, New York and is four years younger than the 6abc Dunkin' Thanksgiving Day Parade in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Light Up Night is a family festival in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania coinciding with the unofficial start of the Winter holiday shopping season. Many retailers in Downtown Pittsburgh remain open late, and street vendors and other concessionaires sell food and give away hot beverages, treats and promotional items. The city is decorated with Christmas lights, trees, among other holiday decorations. On Light Up Night, the skyscrapers and buildings in and around downtown keep their lights on throughout the night, lending to the name. Over 200,000 people attend the festivities.
The Novant Health Thanksgiving Eve Parade, previously known as the " Novant Health Thanksgiving Day Parade" from 2013 until 2020, Carolinas' Carrousel Parade and in 2008 and 2009 as the Carolinas' Thanksgiving Day Parade, is a Thanksgiving Day parade held in uptown Charlotte, North Carolina the night before Thanksgiving Day. The parade was founded in 1947, and in 2013 Novant Health became the parade's title sponsor, taking over sponsorship from Belk. It was moved from Thanksgiving Day to Thanksgiving Eve in 2021.
The Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Special is an Emmy Award given to "single original program." Fiction, non-fiction, music, and variety events are all eligible for this single category. Categories similar to this have been awarded since the Daytime Emmys early years.