Photo gallery: From Santa to celebrities, the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in pictures

NEW YORK — A giant, golden Thanksgiving turkey in a top hat rode on a float through confetti in the colors of fall leaves. A muscular Spider-Man balloon floated in the air, crouched in a web-spinning pose. From a sled piled high with presents, Santa Claus waved to spectators.

These were some of the sights at the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade as it wended its way along a 2.5-mile (4-kilometer) route through central Manhattan on Thursday, 100 years after it was first staged in 1924.

This year’s revelry featured 17 helium-filled character balloons, including a yellow-skinned, blue-overalled Minion from the “Despicable Me” animated franchise, and 22 floats, one of them topped by a torch-hoisting Statue of Liberty.

Eleven marching bands came from as far away as Texas and South Dakota to join 700 clowns, 10 performing groups and celebrity guests in the procession.

Despite a soaking rain and temperatures hovering around 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 Celsius), onlookers crowded the parade route, clad in plastic ponchos and huddled under umbrellas. From inside buildings, kids pressed up against glass windows to marvel at the spectacle.