DETROIT (WWJ) -- When America’s Thanksgiving Parade returns next week for its 93rd year, so do the many traditions that Detroiters have come to know and love about the annual holiday event.
And of those traditions, one of the most beloved is undoubtedly the iconic Big Heads, which have been part of the parade since its inception, even helping to inspire it.
Charles Wendel, who was the display director for the J.L. Hudson Company in the 1920s, first witnessed the large papier-mâché heads while attending the infamous Carnival of Viareggio in Italy.
When Wendel began planning for Detroit’s first Thanksgiving Day parade in 1924, he arranged for four Big Heads to be included.
As the parade has grown over the years, so too has the collection of Big Heads, especially since a new one is introduced each year by The Parade Company.
In fact, The Parade Company now boasts more than 300 Big Heads, making it the largest papier-mâché collection in the world.
In recent years, Detroit icons such as Aretha Franklin, Gilda Radner and Stevie Wonder have joined the ever-growing collection, with 2022 seeing the addition of broadcaster Paul W. Smith.
This year, a Big Head of Detroit sports legend Isiah Thomas will debut in the parade, giving fans of the Pistons something to celebrate.
A key member of the Detroit Pistons' "Bad Boys" era, Thomas and his teammates famously won back-to-back NBA titles in 1989 and 1990.
So on Thanksgiving morning, be on the lookout for the newly-minted papier-mâché likeness of the Detroit basketball legend as he makes his inaugural march down Woodward Avenue.
America’s Thanksgiving Parade presented by Gardner White steps-off at Kirby and Woodward at 8:45 a.m on Thursday, Nov. 23, with coverage on WWJ Newsradio 950.