Thanksgiving Events 2026: Turkey Trots and Parades

We list 84 Thanksgiving events for 2026: 78 on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 26, in 38 states and DC, 4 earlier in Thanksgiving week, and 2 over the holiday weekend.

Most are turkey trots and other Thanksgiving runs, and 6 are Thanksgiving Day parades in Chicago, Detroit, New York, Philadelphia, El Paso, and Houston.

Thanksgiving has two big public traditions, and this page lists both. Parades come first. Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York marks its 100th edition, and Felix the Cat, the parade’s first character balloon in 1927, returns to the lineup. Detroit’s America’s Thanksgiving Parade covers three miles of Woodward Avenue, Chicago’s heads north on State Street through the Loop, and El Paso’s Sun Bowl parade has rolled along Montana Avenue since 1936. Charlotte holds its parade the night before, after dark on Tryon Street, and Plymouth, Massachusetts, steps off from Plymouth Rock the Saturday before with floats for each century from the 17th to the 21st.

Then come the turkey trots. The Dallas YMCA Turkey Trot began at White Rock Lake in 1967 and now starts at Dallas City Hall. Cincinnati’s Thanksgiving Day Race, one of the longest continuously held road races in the country, crosses the Ohio River into Kentucky, Nashville’s Boulevard Bolt runs five miles down Belle Meade Boulevard, and the Utah Human Race brings close to 6,000 runners to the Sandy Promenade for the Utah Food Bank.

A practical tip: register ahead, look up when and where packet pickup is, and dress in layers for a cold start.

Dates can change, so check the event’s website before you go.