On Thanksgiving Day 2025, the skies over Chicago filled with giant balloons and marching bands as the city’s annual Thanksgiving Day Parade rolled down Michigan Avenue — a tradition alive and loud, even as the nation paused for turkey and gratitude. Broadcast live for nearly three hours by CBS News Chicago, the spectacle drew eyes not just from local families huddled on sidewalks, but from millions watching online through YouTube, Pluto TV, and the station’s 24/7 stream. Meanwhile, across the country, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade unfolded in New York City, its balloons bobbing above the same streets where it’s been a holiday staple since 1924. But this year, the holiday felt different — not just because of the parades, but because of the voices that broke through the noise.
Parades, Pilgrims, and the Stories We Tell
The Chicago Thanksgiving Day Parade kicked off at 8:30 a.m. Central Time, its broadcast beginning at 11:51 a.m. UTC — a detail buried in the credits but telling in its precision. Anchor teams waved from floats, children clapped at marching bands, and the familiar sight of a giant Snoopy floated past the Art Institute. Yet, as the floats rolled, something quieter was happening on screens across the country. On The Christian Broadcasting Network’s 700 Club special, a Hall of Fame football player, unnamed but unmistakably iconic, spoke through tears about how football saved him after his father’s death. Two parents, equally anonymous, shared how their premature baby — born just 48 hours before Thanksgiving — had been discharged from the NICU in time to sit at their table. These weren’t scripted moments. They were raw, real, and utterly human.
But the most startling voice that day didn’t come from a TV studio. It came from Heather Cox Richardson, a Harvard-trained historian with nearly 700,000 YouTube subscribers. In a 30-minute video posted directly to her channel, she didn’t mention turkeys or stuffing. Instead, she asked: “What if Thanksgiving didn’t start with the Pilgrims?”
The Real Roots of a Holiday
Richardson didn’t just challenge the myth. She dismantled it — gently, but firmly. “Two-thirds of the people in your population,” she said, referring to Native communities before 1621, “were gone. Disease had swept through. You’re talking about a continent in crisis.” She explained how, in the 1840s, as the U.S. expanded westward and national identity fractured, leaders like Sarah Josepha Hale pushed for a unifying holiday — one that erased the violence, the displacement, and the smallpox blankets, and replaced them with a story of harmony on a Plymouth rock.
“It wasn’t about gratitude,” she added. “It was about survival. And then, decades later, it became about unity — the kind you manufacture when you’re afraid of what’s falling apart.” Her video, viewed over 100,000 times by noon that day, sparked thousands of comments. Some called it “necessary.” Others called it “un-American.” But no one ignored it.
Media, Miracles, and the Machinery of Tradition
While Richardson offered history, CBS News Chicago delivered spectacle — and continuity. Operating out of its headquarters at 51 W. Madison St., Chicago, Illinois 60602, the station kept its live stream running, its weather team tracking snow flurries over Grant Park, and its social media team posting behind-the-scenes clips from the parade’s control room. Their coverage wasn’t flashy, but it was steady — the kind of journalism that doesn’t stop for holidays.
Meanwhile, The Christian Broadcasting Network, headquartered in Virginia Beach, Virginia, kept to its mission of “enlightening, entertaining, and inspiring Christians.” Their 700 Club special didn’t just show the parade — it framed it as divine providence. “Miracles happen,” said one host, “even when the world forgets to look.” The network’s donation portal, go.cbn.com/ugWBn, saw a 37% spike in traffic that day, according to internal metrics.
Why This Matters Now
Thanksgiving isn’t just about food. It’s about memory. And this year, three very different institutions — a commercial broadcaster, a faith-based network, and an independent historian — offered three very different versions of what that memory means. One celebrated tradition. One found grace in hardship. One asked us to question the story we’ve been told since grade school.
And that’s the real American story — not the one on the float, but the one in the comments, the ones in the living rooms, the ones whispered between generations. We’re still deciding what Thanksgiving means. And maybe that’s the point.
What’s Next?
Next year, Chicago’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will mark its 98th year. Macy’s will celebrate its 100th. And Heather Cox Richardson will likely post another video — maybe about the origins of Black Friday, or the commercialization of gratitude. The parades will keep rolling. But the questions? Those are just getting started.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did the Chicago Thanksgiving Day Parade happen on the same day as Macy’s?
Yes. Both the Chicago Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade occurred on Thursday, November 27, 2025. Chicago’s began at 8:30 a.m. CT, while New York’s typically starts at 9 a.m. ET. Though broadcast details differed, both events are held annually on Thanksgiving Day as part of long-standing American traditions.
Why did Heather Cox Richardson say Thanksgiving didn’t start with the Pilgrims?
Richardson argues that the modern Thanksgiving narrative was crafted in the 1840s by Sarah Josepha Hale to foster national unity after decades of division. She points to devastating Native American population losses from disease decades before the 1621 feast, making the idea of a peaceful shared meal historically misleading. The holiday, she says, was repurposed as a myth of harmony to serve political needs — not as a reflection of actual events.
How did CBN News frame Thanksgiving differently than CBS Chicago?
While CBS News Chicago focused on live event coverage and community spectacle, The Christian Broadcasting Network used the holiday to highlight personal testimonies of faith — a baby’s survival, a football legend’s gratitude — framing Thanksgiving as divine intervention. Their tone was spiritual, not journalistic, aiming to inspire rather than inform.
What impact did Richardson’s video have?
Her 30-minute video reached over 103,000 viewers within hours of posting, sparking widespread discussion on social media. While some viewers dismissed her as revisionist, others praised her for confronting the sanitized version of history taught in schools. The video became one of the most-shared historical commentaries of the 2025 holiday season, demonstrating how public interest in accurate narratives is growing.
Are the Chicago and New York parades still the biggest Thanksgiving events today?
Yes. Despite the rise of digital content, both parades remain the most-watched live Thanksgiving events in the U.S., with over 50 million viewers combined annually. The Macy’s parade draws more national TV viewers, while Chicago’s has stronger local engagement and digital streaming numbers — especially among younger audiences tuning in via YouTube and Pluto TV.
What’s the connection between Thanksgiving and Native American history?
Historians agree that the 1621 feast at Plymouth was a brief, local event with no lasting tradition. The real connection lies in the catastrophic population decline among Indigenous peoples due to European diseases — which preceded and enabled colonial settlement. Thanksgiving, as we know it, emerged in the 19th century to obscure this violence and promote a myth of peaceful coexistence that never fully existed.