6abc Dunkin' Thanksgiving Day Parade

20th century title sponsorship 's sponsorship of the parade The annual Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade began in 1920. It is the longest continuously held Thanksgiving day parade in the country. Like other parades of its type, it features balloons, floats, high school marching bands, and celebrities. Gimbels department store sponsored the 1920 parade as the Gimbels Thanksgiving Day Parade; it continued annually despite World War II. Ellis Gimbel, one of the founders of Gimbels Department Stores, wanted his toy land to be the destination of holiday shoppers everywhere. He had more than 50 store employees dressed in costume and sent to walk in their first Thanksgiving Day parade. The parade featured floats as marchers paraded down Market Street, with the parade's finale featuring Santa Claus arriving at the eighth-floor toy department at Gimbels, where he climbed the ladder of a Philadelphia Fire Department ladder truck. They renamed the event as the 6abc Boscov's Thanksgiving Day Parade. 21st century In 2004, the parade celebrated its 85th anniversary with new balloons and floats. An opening number paid tribute to the celebrities who had participated during its history. In 2005, it featured the most celebrities in history, as well as eight new balloons, also the most in its history. In 2007, the parade presented the first parade float with a built-in ice rink. Disney's High School Musical: The Ice Tour utilized the rink. In August 2008, Boscov's Department Stores filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and planned to close several stores, due to financial problems from the widespread recession. They withdrew their sponsorship of the parade. Swedish furniture manufacturer IKEA, which has a store and its North American home office in nearby Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, replaced Boscov's as parade co-sponsor from that year until 2010. In June 2011, Dunkin' Donuts announced that they would sponsor the parade. In addition to balloons and marching bands, the show features ABC stars, actors from stage and screen, Disney characters, and local personalities, including members of the Action News team. In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the parade was held as a television-only event. The ''6abc Dunkin' Thanksgiving Celebration'' featured modifications similar to those made by the Macy's and America's Thanksgiving Parades. The parade returned to its traditional format in 2021. ==Television coverage==

Since 1966, the parade has been broadcast on WPVI, as well as simulcast on other television stations throughout the United States. Viewers could also watch the telecast on the station's website, 6abc.com, ABC News Live, Disney+ and Hulu, and since 2023, the parade has been aired internationally via the YouTube page of ABC News. Good Morning America, ABC's national morning news program, sends a reporter to the event each year and covers festivities leading up to the parade. In 2013, then-Good Morning America weather anchor Sam Champion participated in hosting in his sixth year. In more recent years, current GMA weekday weather anchor Ginger Zee has participated in hosting. Jim O'Brien was the program's first host; Dave Roberts became a perennial host upon joining the station in 1978. After the sudden death of O'Brien in 1983, WPVI's Lisa Thomas-Laury joined as Roberts's co-host. Together, Roberts and Thomas-Laury hosted the parade for nearly 20 years. When Thomas-Laury began to experience health problems in 2002, WPVI weather anchor Cecily Tynan replaced her. 2006 marked the program's first high-definition telecast. Since her return to WPVI, Thomas-Laury helped host the finale in 2006 and 2007. In 2009, the station announced that Roberts would retire from broadcasting on December 11 of that year. Thomas-Laury made a special appearance in 2009, to celebrate Roberts's years as host. Thomas-Laury (who would subsequently retire from broadcasting in 2016) and Roberts both made a special appearance in the broadcast booth during the centennial edition of the parade in 2019. The current hosting team is Tynan and WPVI news anchor Rick Williams, who replaced Roberts. Since 2024, the parade has simulcastly streamed nationally on ABC News Live, Disney+, and Hulu. WPVI also broadcasts annual live coverage of Philadelphia's Pulaski, Columbus, and Puerto Rican parades. ==Balloons==

Balloons have been created to represent a wide variety of characters from popular children's books, including folk tales, toys, comic books, animated movies and cartoons, television series (such as Sesame Street), films and other genres. Increasingly over the years, the balloons have featured characters who have tie-in marketing of toys, games, and accessories. ==Stars, performers, and acts==

In addition to the well-known balloons and floats, the parade also features live music and other performances. High-school marching bands from across the country participate, and the television broadcasts feature performances by famous singers and bands as well as appearances by local celebrities and actors from ABC shows. Since 1997, the parade has also featured a tap routine called "FanTAPulous," with more than 450 dancers from the East Coast. Other special guests include state and national beauty contest winners, cheerleaders of major sports teams, casts from musicals performing in Philadelphia, and Santa and Mrs. Claus. In 2024, the Philadelphia Ghostbusters joined the parade line up for the first time. They were accompanied by members of the Delco Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters of New Jersey, and Diamond State Ghostbusters. ==Marching bands==

==6abc Dunkin' Donuts Holiday Food Drive==

For more than 25 years, WPVI-TV has partnered with the Boy Scouts of America Cradle of Liberty Council in their Scouting For Food program to collectively coordinate one of the most massive food drives in the nation. Until 2006, it was called the 6abc/Boy Scouts Holiday Food Drive. In 2006, the Holiday Food Drive amassed 120,000 lbs of food, and for 2010 Boy Scouts troops' efforts led to the collection of over 40,000 pounds of food towards the cumulative total. In June 2011, Dunkin' Donuts announced that they would also co-sponsor the food drive. Proceeds of the food drive currently benefit Philabundance. ==See also==