Thanksgiving Parade, Part 1 of 2, America's Hometown, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

With a crowd of up to 200,000 spectators, Plymouth's Thanksgiving Parade was held on a beautiful sunny fall day.  As start time approached, many spectators took up positions on Cole's Hill opposite the reviewing stand at the waterfront at the end of the parade route.

The usual merchandise sellers were plying the crowd were their plastic stuff.

Folks were bundled up against the cold sitting in the shade.

These folks even brought their blankies.

But if you sat on the other side of the parade route, you were in warm sunshine.

These two folks are part of a popular Boston television station morning news team and served as grand marshalls for the parade.

So on with the parade........

Although today we celebrate Thanksgiving on the last Thursday in November, according to Brian O'Donovan, of PBS's Christmas Celtic Sojourn fame, "the first Thanksgiving was actually celebrated on February 21. In the fall of 1621, the pilgrims had just arrived in the New World and had no idea how wild a New England winter would be. Many of them starved and the thought of heading back to Europe was prevalent. On February 20th, an Irish ship called The Lyon arrived and delivered much needed provisions to those who survived the winter. The ship was sent by a Dublin merchant whose daughter was married to one of the pilgrims. Grateful for their salvation, the pilgrims dubbed the 21st as "a day of much thanksgiving." I'm not sure how it got moved to November........