Teenagers Invade New York City for Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade

There were ponytails and pompoms, the piercing squeals of teenage salutations and a pileup of girls sitting cross-legged in the middle of a hallway, blocking all traffic, oblivious to everything but their sparkly pink phones. It was not first-period recess, but the lobby of the New York Hilton Midtown on Monday.

The Hilton is just one of the Manhattan hotels lodging the more than 3,000 high-school cheerleaders and marching-band musicians who flew in from around the country to promenade in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

In the week leading up to the big event, drum majors, baton twirlers and cheerleaders fill hotel staterooms, elevator banks and stairwells, seemingly bent on transforming New York City’s sleek conference centers and grand ballrooms into high school homerooms.

The Hilton Midtown, on Avenue of the Americas, is the temporary home for about 1,300 teenagers from “Spirit of America Productions,” a dance organization that has sent performers to the parade for nearly three decades, Laura Davis, an owner of the company, said.