Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is an annual event hosted on the 25th of November in New York by the Macy's department store since 1924. One of the special events in the parade is of the large-polyurethane character floats filled with helium. In 2015, we saw the introduction of the Red balloon for promoting the upcoming Angry Birds Movie releasing the next year.

"Angry Birds is a worldwide phenomenon and we are thrilled to have Red join the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon line-up this year, taking his place among some of the world’s most popular and recognizable characters", said Parade director Amy Kule of the balloon’s debut.

Red returned to the famed holiday procession in 2016, touting the home media release of The Angry Birds Movie, and once again in the 2017 Macy’s Parade, promoting The Angry Birds Movie 2, set to release in Summer 2019 and the Angry Birds Blues TV series. Following the latter appearance, the Red balloon was retired from the lineup.

Since its retirement, the Red balloon has been used at several balloon field training sessions. He first appeared in a June 2018 test flight alongside Arrie the Pirate, and once again in September of that year with the Blue Americana Sphere and Kit the Elf. Red made his most recent test flight appearance in September 2021, flying alongside an Opening Macy’s Star and the Blue Americana Sphere.

Trivia
Early concept art of the Red balloon shows that the balloon, at one point, was planned to be accompanied by a toy float of a Minion Pig.