Detroiters are getting ready for the annual Thanksgiving Day parade.  The event brings floats, singing acts, and clowns down Woodward Avenue – culminating in the arrival of Santa around noon. 

A longstanding crowd favorite returns this year.  The Fred Hill briefcase drill team will be back in the parade after an absence of more than a decade.  Scott Idle leads the reconstituted team. 

“The briefcase kind of doesn’t exist anymore.  People don’t take them to work anymore and backpacks have replaced briefcases and such.  So I feel like us marching with the joy that we’re going to bring – the energy.  We’re there to bring people smiles.  And we want kids to ask their parents, ‘What are those boxes they’re carrying?’”  

The parade kicks off just before 9 a.m.  For those of you who don’t want to deal with the crowds or the traffic or the cold, you can watch it in your pajamas on WDIV-TV. 

The parade is leading to some road closures downtown.  Woodward will be closed, starting today, from Grand Boulevard all the way down to Jefferson as workers prepare the route for tomorrow’s event.  

If you’re headed downtown, parking meters will be free tomorrow and Friday.  Just make sure you’re not parking somewhere illegally.  And the People Mover is up and running again to get you around downtown. 

Additional headlines for Wednesday, November 26, 2025

Lions Preview 

Downtown will be busy Thursday – not only for the parade, but also for the Detroit Lions annual NFL Thanksgiving Day football game.  The team will host the Green Bay Packers at Ford Field. 

The Thanksgiving tradition began back in 1934. 

This year’s game is important to the Lions’ playoff prospects.  The team is currently in third place in the NFC North.  That’s despite having a record of seven wins and four losses.  Green Bay has seven wins, three losses and one tie.  And both teams are behind the Chicago Bears in the division with eight wins and three losses. 

Just seven teams from the NFC will make it to the playoffs, and the Lions currently are in eighth place.  Kick off at Ford Field is Thursday afternoon at 1 p.m.

Thanksgiving travel 

If you’re headed out of town for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, make sure to pack your patience. 

AAA predicts a record number of Americans will travel at least 50 miles from home over the next few days.  The auto club says Thanksgiving is typically the busiest travel holiday of the year.  73 million people are expected to be on the roads, with another 6 million flying around the country. 

Wednesday afternoon and Sunday are expected to be the busiest travel days. 

If you’re driving to your destination, gas prices here in metro Detroit average $3.01 per gallon.  That’s 10 cents less than last week. 

Watch for lake effect snow if you’re headed west towards Chicago.  If you’re headed up north, beware that a storm is bringing heavy snowfall to parts of the state. 

And since the Detroit Evening Report is taking a break for Thanksgiving and Black Friday, here are a couple of things to keep an eye on over the next few days. 

Black Friday preview 

Retailers are expecting a hectic Black Friday on the day after Thanksgiving.  It’s typically one of the busiest shopping days of the year – with stores offering discounts to draw customers inside. 

Vic Veda is with the Michigan Retailers Association. She says shopping locally makes a difference. 

“There are a lot of great benefits to shopping in person and in your local community.  Every purchase that you shift from an out-of-state online retailer back into your local economy makes a huge impact on our state’s overall economic activity and employment. Literally, every purchase does make a difference.”   

You can expect to see heavy traffic around metro Detroit malls and shopping centers on Friday. 

UM-OSU 

The long-standing college football rivalry between the University of Michigan and Ohio State will be center stage on Saturday afternoon. 

The undefeated Buckeyes are ranked number one in the country, while the Wolverines, with a record of nine wins and two losses, are ranked 15th.  But those rankings often mean little in this grudge match dating back to 1897. 

Michigan beat Ohio State 13 to 10 in Columbus last year.  This year’s game takes place in Ann Arbor at noon on Saturday. 

Listen to the latest episode of the “Detroit Evening Report” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Detroit loves a parade. Hundreds of thousands of people line Woodward Avenue each Thanksgiving to watch a stream of floats, marching bands, balloons, and celebrities make their way from midtown to downtown.

The 2025 parade will be the 99th in the city’s history. Only Philadelphia’s Thanksgiving parade is older.

Tony Michaels is the president and CEO of The Parade Company, which organizes the event. He says it takes a whole year to plan.

“It’s a massive, massive undertaking,” he says. “We’re building 120-foot floats, we’re selling sponsorships, we’re making sure sponsors are taken care of.”

In addition to The Parade Company’s staff, Michaels says about 2,000 volunteers sign up to help. Some carry banners, others hold balloon leads or drive floats.

“They do so much, it’s unbelievable, and without them, we cannot pull this off,” he says.

The parade begins in the Cultural Center district near the Detroit Public Library and the Detroit Institute of Arts. It proceeds about three miles south to Campus Martius.

Michaels estimates nearly 1 million people will line the parade route.

Stars shine

This year’s event will be Mike Duggan’s last parade as mayor. He’s one of the grand marshals, along with retired WDIV-TV news anchor Devin Scillian. 

Michaels says they won’t be the only celebrities taking part. Detroit-born Actor Sam Richardson is scheduled to appear. He co-created and starred in the Comedy Central series “Detroiters” with Tim Robinson. 

“We have Christopher McDonald, who played Shooter McGavin in the ‘Happy Gilmore’ movies,” Michaels says. “And we have Dexter Bussey, one of the great Detroit Lions.”

A century of tradition

The J. L. Hudson Company sponsored the first Thanksgiving parade in 1924. It has been held every year since except 1943 and 1944 due to World War II. The 2020 parade took place in a different location without spectators because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2025 parade will pass by the new Hudson’s Detroit tower. 

Gardner-White is the parade’s presenting sponsor. WDIV-TV will televise the event.