NEW YORK -- Santa Claus, giant cartoon balloons and whimsical floats were protected by sand-filled dump trucks and bomb-sniffing dogs Thursday as the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade wound its way through the streets of Manhattan under heavy security.
The annual spectacle went off without a hitch, with thousands of spectators and more than 3,000 police officers lining the streets under an air of uncertainty about the possibility of an extremist attack.
"There are so many police officers out here you can't help but feel safe," said Sarah Bender, who took her two young sons to watch the parade. "It's a day to have fun, watch the balloons and celebrate with your family. You can't spend your life worrying about what could happen."
While authorities had said there was no confirmation of any credible threat, they stepped up safety measures in the wake of the July cargo truck attack on a holiday crowd in Nice, France, and a recent posting in an English-language Islamic State group magazine that called the Thanksgiving parade "an excellent target."
Revelers cheered and yelled, "Thank you!" to officers along the route Thursday, giving special attention to the New York Police Department marching band.
Spectators sometimes stood 10 deep to see the parade and its signature giant balloons, depicting such characters as Ronald McDonald, SpongeBob SquarePants and Charlie Brown. Marching bands from across the country entertained revelers, as did such celebrity singers as Tony Bennett and Sarah McLachlan.
Sarah Roma stood with her two young sons at Columbus Circle, straining to see the Hello Kitty float. It was hard to get a good look: Parked between her family and the parade's marching bands, cheerleaders, clowns and floats were dump trucks, creating a temporary but substantial barricade at the Manhattan roundabout.
A similar barrier of vehicles, some filled with sand, was replicated at every cross street along the route, a new counterterrorism effort employed by the city.
Roma, 41, who was visiting from Washington with her family, said a fear of attacks had been in the back of her mind.
"And then I thought, that isn't even something that would have crossed my mind when we were kids," Roma said. Her son Maks Roma-Shtylla, 4, had pestered her about the sanitation vehicle. "I said they're here to help," she said.
Each year has seen increased security, as the city seeks to preserve and keep safe a cherished tradition in an environment of increasing anxiety and heightened fears. In addition to the truck barricades, 3,000 police officers were at the parade this year; there were bomb-sniffing dogs, counterterrorism squads patrolling on foot and helicopters overhead.
"If this is what it's going to take, then this is what we have to do, fill trucks with sand," said Shafeeq Jones, 44, a vendor from the Bronx who was selling turkey-shaped hats, one of which was on his head, the drumsticks jiggling as he spoke. "We still get a little joy out of it."
The decision to create the side-street blockades this year came after the July attack in Nice where more than 80 people among revelers celebrating Bastille Day were fatally struck by a truck driven into the crowd. Hundreds were injured.
"One of the reasons the [New York police agency] has detectives around the world is to gather information," Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a news conference about parade security Wednesday night. "From year to year, we will make adjustments according to what we see happening around the world."
Police Commissioner James O'Neill said in an interview that the stepped-up security would have little effect on the fun and frivolity of the parade, at least to the children.
"Grown-ups have to worry about grown-up things," O'Neill said. But children "are going to see the balloons and be lost in that."
Early shoppers
Throngs of shoppers lined up at Macy's Herald Square in Manhattan for the store's evening opening, as Thanksgiving Day rather than the day afterward started the holiday shopping season.
Many mall operators and big retailers would like to see it be the new tradition, and the competition to grab customers first is keen.
Maria Elfes was visiting New York from Sydney, Australia. It was her seventh time in New York but her first time shopping on Thanksgiving Day. She called it manic but fun.
A lot of stores were offering the same deals as in previous years, like $19.99 boots.
But although some like the Thanksgiving Day shopping, many workers and shoppers think it puts profits over employees' time with their families.
No political talk
This Thanksgiving, after a divisive presidential election pitting Republican Donald Trump against Democrat Hillary Clinton, many people planned to avoid talk about the vote during holiday meals.
Sitting on their suitcases in a departure lounge at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Sharyn Ioffe and her brother, Saul Ioffe, said there was a good chance politics would encroach on their Thanksgiving when they arrived home in New York.
"I'm pretty anxious about it," said Sharyn Ioffe, 27, who supported Clinton, while others in her family sided with Trump. "I'm still very emotional about the election. I know you have to try and understand the other side. But I'm not there yet."
She said her strategy would be simple: change the subject.
"I won't bring it up. But if someone else does, I'll say I don't want to discuss it," she said.
Americans took to the roads, air and railways Wednesday for what is expected to be the busiest Thanksgiving travel period in almost a decade. Almost 49 million people are expected to travel 50 miles or more between Wednesday and Sunday, the most since 2007, because of lower gas prices and an improving economy, according to AAA.
The weather appeared to be cooperating for the most part, with no significant problems in the majority of the country, the National Weather Service said.
Lines of cars, taxicabs and buses dropping off travelers and picking up others at O'Hare terminals grew long Wednesday evening. Crowds grew steadily inside, too, as travelers pulled suitcases into departure terminals that were decked out with giant wreaths. A light, cold rain fell, but most flights that evening were listed as "on time."
Elizabeth Thompson said she couldn't wait to leave the big city behind and decompress over Thanksgiving at her grandmother's house in rural south-central Indiana. But first she had to get there.
On Wednesday, Thompson, 23, missed her Amtrak train from Chicago to Galesburg, Ill., where she'd planned to catch a ride with a family member the rest of the way to Edinburgh, Ind.
Her grandmother's house, "is just where we go to unplug and escape," said Thompson, who was deciding whether to wait several hours for the next train or hop on a bus and get going.
As for the election, "my mother specifically said, 'We're not going to talk about it,'" for her grandmother's sake, Thompson said. Although nobody in her family supported Trump, "my grandmother is sick of hearing about it."
Presidential pardons
President Barack Obama officially pardoned two turkeys Wednesday in an oddly mournful replaying of a White House Thanksgiving ritual that not even his daughters attended.
Standing in for the president's two daughters were two nephews, Austin Robinson, 6, and Aaron Robinson, 4, "who, unlike Malia and Sasha, have not yet been turned cynical by Washington," Obama joked. "They still believe in bad puns. They still appreciate the grandeur of this occasion. They still have hope."
At the mention of "hope," the crowd in the Rose Garden -- made up of relatives and friends getting perhaps one last visit to the White House grounds -- grew quiet, and Obama's staff, gathered along the nearby colonnade, looked grim.
Obama has spent much of the past two weeks as a kind of crisis counselor, trying to persuade his staff and Clinton supporters that Trump's victory will not spell disaster for Obama's priorities or the nation.
And Wednesday, the president was at his this-will-all-be-all-right best.
The turkey pardoning is one of those odd White House traditions that become enshrined on the calendar in part because nobody quite knows how to kill one.
The notion that a pardon for two turkeys out of 46 million slaughtered for Thanksgiving meals should be some kind of feel-good event has always felt a bit off. Obama has long papered over the awkwardness with a speech peppered with puns.
But with his legacy on the chopping block this year, even a few puns could not dispel the gloom.
"I know there are some bad ones in here, but this is the last time I'm doing this, so we're not leaving any room for leftovers," Obama said to some laughter.
Putting aside the jokes, Obama spent part of his speech trumpeting his administration's accomplishments on jobs, housing and health care. It was a mini-stump speech that most in the crowd had heard many times, but they clapped with gusto nonetheless.
"That's worth gobbling about," Obama said.
Then he grew somber and gave one of what will be many goodbyes.
"On this Thanksgiving, I want to express my sincere gratitude to the American people for the trust that you've placed in me over these last eight years and the incredible kindness that you've shown my family," Obama said. "On behalf of Michelle, and my mother-in-law and our girls, we want to thank you so very, very much."
He then dismissed the crowd with one last stab at good wordplay, saying, "And so let's get on with the pardoning, because it's Wednesday afternoon and everybody knows that Thanksgiving traffic can put everybody in a foul mood."
Information for this article was contributed by Michael Balsamo, Anne D'Innocenzio, Tammy Webber, Michael Tarm, Karen Matthews, Matthew Brown and Maryclaire Dale of The Associated Press; and by Sarah Maslin Nir and Gardiner Harris of The New York Times.
A Section on 11/25/2016