Watch Holiday Parades Live Online

UPDATED MARCH 16, 2013: WATCH 2013 ST. PATRICK’S DAY PARADE ONLINE

The luck of the Irish is extended to those of us who can’t be in New York City, Boston, or Scranton for the 2013 St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Several of the country’s biggest St. Patrick’s Day Parades will be shown online, but don’t expect all of them to take place on the actual St. Patrick’s Day date of Sunday, March 17, 2013. Let’s look at the live parade schedules to avoid a donnybrook of confusion.

The 2013 New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade will be held on Saturday, March 16, since this year’s St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Sunday. Sunday is a Catholic Holy day of obligation, and you’d better believe they’re not going to cancel Sunday Mass. You can still watch the New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade online at NBC New York, from 11 a.m. ET – 3 p.m. ET Saturday. If you’re all about the bagpipes and marching bands, you can listen to the New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade online via the New York news radio station 1010 WINS. If you snaked out on Saturday’s live broadcast, you can watch the New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade on demand archived at Earthcam.com shortly after the parade or watch archived clips from the parade on the 4 New York website. The site even has a live from Dublin stream, so you can watch people celebrating the holiday in Ireland.

The Scranton, PA St. Patrick’s Day Parade is the third largest in the nation, but it was already held last weekend. You can still watch Scranton St. Patrick’s Day Parade highlights from WNEP TV. If you’re really want to watch a live St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Sunday, March 17, you can watch the HolyokeSt. Patrick’s Day Parade live on WBGY (12 p.m. EST), or watch the Bay City St. Patrick’s Day Parade (2 p.m. EST). Early risers who want the real thing can watch the Dublin St. Patrick’s Day Parade live from Ireland at 4 a.m. EST Sunday, with a live stream provided by the Colorado State Marching Band who will be performing in the parade.

UPDATED DECEMBER 31, 2012: WATCH 2013 ROSE PARADE ONLINE

Parade Moments

Re-live the excitement of a parade any time of year. Use RealPlayer to download and save some of your favorite moments caught on video to your own RealPlayer library.

That cherished New Year’s Day tradition continues on January 1, 2013 with the 124^th annual Rose Parade in Pasadena. Hosted by Bob Eubanks and Stephanie Edwards, the 2013 Tournament of Roses Parade will feature 21 marching bands, 21 equestrian horse teams, and 41 fantastic floral floats all decked out to this year’s Rose Parade theme, Dr. Seuss’ “Oh, the Places You’ll Go.”

You can watch the Rose Parade online live on New Year’s Day on the KTLA webcast. KTLA is a Southern California local TV station broadcasting the parade on TV and online. KTLA’s Rose Parade parade livestream begins 11 a.m. EST on January 1, 2013. If you’re up early on New Year’s Day, KTLA will also webcast the “Backstage at the Parade” pre-show at 9 a.m. EST, and the “Rose Parade Countdown” parade pre-show at 10 a.m. EST, with parade highlights and marching band videos being posted to the KTLA homepage throughout rest of New Year’s Day.

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is the granddaddy of all Thanksgiving morning traditions. You don’t have to be in New York to watch the parade live  — there are web sites and mobile apps providing live online broadcasts of the 86^th annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. Just tune in anytime from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. EST on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, November 22, 2012 to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade live on your computer, tablet, or smartphone. You can also listen to a live broadcast of the parade by tuning in online to local New York radio station 1010 WINS.

Tuning into the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is about the entertainment and seeing the balloons, floats, and marching bands. Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade fans have online livecam options and a specially designed Macy’s Parade app, all of which provide multiple camera angles with uninterrupted live video of all the attractions in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

WATCH MACY’S THANKSGIVING PARADE LIVE ONLINE

In addition to coverage on NBC, you can watch a live stream of the Parade on ABC. the webcam site Earthcam hosts a global network of live webcams, and seven of them happen to be pointed right along the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade route. Visit Earthcam.com on Thanksgiving morning, and you’ve got seven different prime parade-watching spots at your disposal. Some of the cameras are right at street level, while others are several stories above.

You can watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade live on Earthcam’s Times Square webcam, in high-definition (HD) and with live audio. Earthcam offers seven live video feeds from Times Square showing the Thanksgiving Parade. Some camera feeds are user-submitted video, so not all of them are in HD and not all have live audio. Just below the live cam feed in the middle of your screen, you’ll see six other camera options from Times Square with names like “Crossroads” and “One Times Square.” Each of these options provides a different camera angle on the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade route, and each is equipped with “zoom-in,” “move left,” and “move right” capabilities for a better look at the floats and attractions. You won’t get the freedom to switch camera angles or zoom-in when watching the parade on TV, so watching the parade on Earthcam has its advantages.

In previous years, though, Earthcam has provided a three-hour on-demand video of the parade within hours of the parade ending. You can watch the 2011 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade from 2011 on Earthcam, and previous years’ Thanksgiving parades are also available.

OFFICIAL MACY’S THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE MOBILE APPS

Smarthone and tablet viewers can get their own dedicated app for watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade live. The free Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade app for iOS and Macy’s Day Parade app for Android both offer numerous live video feeds from various traffic cameras situated along the parade route. Each camera offers a real-time live video feed of the parade, though these video feeds do not come with sound. Still, this app is the only option providing numerous live video views from all over the 2.5-mile parade route instead of just one spot.

The live camera feeds are just one feature of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade app. The app is primarily designed for people attending the parade in New York City. Most of the app’s other features help users find parade schedules, public restrooms, and local coffee shops. But this app is also a great way for television viewers to second screen their Thanksgiving Day Parade watching experience. You can use the app to track Santa or your favorite floats so you won’t miss them on the live TV broadcast, or to make sure you tune-in at the right time to see scheduled performer Carly Rae Jepsen’s float to watch her perform her big hit single.

If you think the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is just the same old parade every year, guess again. This year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will include the debuts of all-new giant balloon versions of Hello Kitty, Papa Smurf, and Elf on the Shelf. Longtime favorite balloon Snoopy is taking this year’s parade off, but he’ll be replaced by Charlie Brown. Before the parade even starts you can catch a glimpse at some of the new floats that will be debuting this year in the video below from NBC.

What are your favorite balloons from parades past? Are there any notable marching bands we should watch for? Have you watched the parade online in previous years, and how does it compare to television? Talk turkey about the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade in the comments section below.