The parade, which began in 1996, is traditionally held the weekend before Thanksgiving and draws its name from the fact that Plymouth Colony was the landing point of the Pilgrims involved in the traditional "First Thanksgiving" in the early 1620s.
Unlike most Thanksgiving parades, which include giant balloons of popular characters, the America's Hometown parade has a strict theme.
[1][2][3] The parade is part of the broader America's Hometown Thanksgiving Celebration, which includes a number of ceremonies, including a Turkey Trot, concerts and a street fair.
The event was not held in its entirely in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.
Organizers saw this as unintentionally fitting, given that it corresponded to the winter of 1620 and 1621, exactly 400 years prior, during which the Pilgrims that founded Plymouth Colony suffered great illness and hardship.