The centerpiece of contemporary Thanksgiving in the United States and Canada is a large meal, starring a large roasted turkey. All of the dishes in a traditional Thanksgiving Dinner are made from foods native to North America, the Pilgrims having received these foods from the Indians.

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Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, usually the "Macy's Day Parade" in informal contexts, and originally the "Macy's Christmas Parade," is an annual parade presented by Macy's Department Store. The three-hour event is held in New York City starting at 9:00 a.m. EST Thanksgiving Day on NBC.

In 2006, to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the first parade, Macy*s began a coast-to-coast "Parade on Parade" interactive tour on September 6th in Detroit, as Macy*s officially bacame a nationally branded department store chain. The interactive tours includes a school for balloon flying, dressing as a clown, float escort or balloon handler, a musical revue on how balloons are made to fly, a "Miracle on 34th Street Theatre" among other activities. It is scheduled to conclude the day before the parade (November 22) at the annual Balloon Inflation at the Museum of Natural History at Central Park West, but the final official stop will be December 5 in Atlanta. It plans to also have the first "Macy*s All American Band" made up of high school band members from all 50 states.

Parade Route

* The Parade starts at the American Museum of Natural History, on 77th and 81st Sts. at Central Park West. It heads south alongside Central Park. The balloons are held close to the ground, to avoid trees and crosswinds as much as possible. At Columbus Circle (on the southwest corner of Central Park), the parade turns onto Broadway.

* At this point, the balloons are raised to their full height. The Parade continues southeast, through Times Square, to the Macy's building at Herald Square (where Broadway intersects with 34th St. and the Avenue of the Americas).

* There's a right turn onto 34th St, and another right onto 7th Ave, where the balloons and floats are taken down and packed up.

Iowa is a Midwest state of the United States. It is the 29th state of the United States, having joined the Union on December 28, 1846. The official name of the state is the "State of Iowa". The state is named for the Native American Iowa people.

Economy
The state's total gross state product for 2003 was US$103 billion. Its per capita income for 2003 was US$28,340. Iowa's main agricultural outputs are hogs, corn, soybeans, oats, cattle and dairy products. Its industrial outputs are food processing, machinery, electric equipment, chemical products, publishing and primary metals. Iowa produces the nation's largest amount of ethanol. Des Moines also serves as a center for the insurance industry.

Iowa imposes taxes on net state income of individuals and estates and trusts. There are currently nine income tax brackets, ranging from 0.36% to 8.98%. The state sales tax rate is 5%. Iowa has two local option sales taxes that may be imposed by counties after an election at which the majority of voters favors the tax. They are in addition to the 5 percent state sales tax. The regular local option tax is imposed on the gross receipts from sales of tangible personal property. It usually remains in effect until it is repealed, but the ordinance may include a sunset clause. The school infrastructure local option tax is automatically repealed 10 years after it is imposed, unless the ballot imposes a shorter time frame.

Property tax is levied on the taxable value of real property, that is, mostly land, buildings, structures, and other improvements that are constructed on or in the land, attached to the land or placed upon a foundation. Typical improvements include a building, house or mobile home, fences, and paving. The following five classes of real property are evaluated: residential, agricultural, commercial, industrial and utilities/railroad (which is assessed at the state level). Homeowners pay less than half of the property tax collected each year in Iowa. Farmers pay 21 percent, and businesses and industry, a total of 23 percent. Utility companies, including railroads, pay 10 percent. Iowa has more than 2,000 taxing authorities. Most property is taxed by more than one taxing authority. The tax rate differs in each locality and is a composite of county, city or rural township, school district and special levies.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/