For most New Yorkers, Thanksgiving is a day of celebration, a day to spend time with family \u2014\u00a0and, perhaps most importantly \u2014\u00a0a day off of work. <\/p>\n
For others, however, this is the busiest day of their year \u2014 when rest isn\u2019t even close to being part of the equation. <\/p>\n
As you tuck into your annual turkey, take some time to appreciate a trio of tireless Big Apple heroes, who inhabit three very different worlds within New York \u2014\u00a0each of them hitting the ground running over the holiday, keeping the city warm, fed and full of holiday cheer. <\/p>\n
Yes to the dress<\/p>\n
Kimberly Montgomery is pictured with some of the 4,000 parade costumes at the Macy\u2019s Studio last week. LP Media<\/p>\n
As costume director for the Macy\u2019s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Kimberly Montgomery\u2019s morning on the fourth Thursday in November starts hours ahead of almost everyone else\u2019s.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She wakes up at 2.30 a.m., already riding a wave of adrenaline as she prepares to oversee the dressing of 4,000 parade participants.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have 2,000 balloon handlers, 750 clowns, about 300 float escorts, about 100 costumed characters, 300 children, 500 people in officials\u2019 jackets, and the dance teams,\u201d Montgomery told The Post ahead of the 2025 extravaganza.<\/p>\n
Far from being frazzled, the costume commando is a seasoned pro, having worked the parade every year since 2000.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the minute I stepped into that job I felt like I was in the right place,\u201d the 64-year-old enthused. \u201cI just thought, \u2018My God, this is so cool, and I\u2019m absolutely loving this.’\u201d<\/p>\n
The costume commando has been working the Macy\u2019s Thanksgiving Day Parade every year since 2000. LP Media<\/p>\n
At the dawn of the millennium, Montgomery, who has a background as a Broadway performer, met Macy\u2019s Parade creative director Bill Schermerhorn.<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked him, \u2018Hey, do you ever need a runner or somebody who can come in for a week?\u201d she recalled. \u201cI got hired to be the data entry person, and I literally learned the parade from the bottom up.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2003, Montgomery was promoted to costume director, a role she\u2019s held ever since.<\/p>\n
And after more than two decades in the job, the costume connoisseur has her Thanksgiving day routine down pat.<\/p>\n
Montgomery was a new mom when she began working at the Macy\u2019s Thanksgiving Day Parade back in 2000. LP Media<\/p>\n
After her 2.30 a.m. wake-up call, she heads to the Tick Tock Diner on 8th Ave. and W. 34th St. to grab a pre-dawn breakfast with a team of 10 colleagues, fueling up for the frantic day ahead.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt 4.15 a.m., we meet about 200 of our parade day dressers and makeup artists, and we get the walkie-talkies going and turn the lights on in the [dressing] venues,\u201d she dished. \u201cAt 5 a.m., we open the doors.\u201d<\/p>\n
What ensues is an avalanche of parade participants who file in to\u00a0be dressed up.<\/p>\n
While Montgomery\u2019s role requires supreme organizational skills and military precision, equally important is her ability to improvise.<\/p>\n
Jubilant participants in last year\u2019s parade are pictured. The rainy weather caused a headache for Montgomery\u2019s team, who had to quickly dry the garments when they came back to the warehouse. James Keivom<\/p>\n
\u201cI am actually the queen of plan B,\u201d she quipped. \u201cI\u2019ve always got in my head \u2018What could plan B be if plan A doesn\u2019t work out? I\u2019ve already got those things in my head for just about everything in the parade.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unlike many other large-scale spectacles, Macy\u2019s doesn\u2019t hold fittings with every one of the thousands of participants ahead of time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a little bit of roulette on the Thursday morning in some situations,\u201d Montgomery explained. \u201cBut we have looked at heights and weights and inseams and all those things. Sometimes people lie a little bit, so we do have a surprise or two on occasion, but we try to prepare for plan B.\u201d<\/p>\n
From 5 a.m. to 2.30 p.m., Montgomery says she and her team are \u201criding a wave of energy that we have to sort of keep a lid on with all of our organization.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year, everything was soaked to the socks,\u201d Montgomery stated, recalling the soppy celebrations of 2024. James Keivom<\/p>\n
Just as important as the dressing is the undressing \u2014 as parade participants return, their items are put back on racks and immediately trucked back to a storage facility in New Jersey.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do that with every float in between Turkey and Santa [the last float],\u201d Montgomery explained. \u201cSo by the time Santa comes back, that\u2019s the only rack sitting in all these venues\u2026 Literally everything else has been cleaned up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most importantly, the team prays that the rain stays away, given that many garments are re-worn or repurposed for the following year as costume companies are usually on three year contracts with Macy\u2019s.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year, everything was soaked to the socks,\u201d Montgomery stated, recalling the soppy celebrations of 2024. \u201cWe had to get those dry within like 72 hours before they mildewed, otherwise you lose millions and millions of dollars worth of costumes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Santa makes his customary appearance in the 2004 Macy\u2019s Thanksgiving Day Parade \u2014 Montgomery\u2019s second year in the role she\u2019s held for more than two and a half decades. Peter Kramer\/NBC via Getty Images<\/p>\n
The 1930 Macy\u2019s Thanksgiving Day Parade is pictured. The iconic New York festivity kicks off the start of the holiday season for Americans watching across the country. ASSOCIATED PRESS<\/p>\n
By mid-afternoon, Montgomery\u2019s duties have wrapped up, and she\u2019s ready to celebrate Thanksgiving with her husband and two adult sons \u2014 one of whom is participating in this year\u2019s parade.<\/p>\n
The family usually dines at a hotel in the city, with Montgomery saying she\u2019s certainly in no mood to swap costuming for cooking.<\/p>\n
\u201cI try to avoid cooking at all costs, whether it\u2019s Thanksgiving or any day of the week,\u201d she laughed. \u201cI\u2019m not the best at that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite approaching retirement age, Montgomery will be back next year as Macy\u2019s celebrates its 100th Thanksgiving Day Parade.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s proud to be a part of an iconic New York City tradition, helping to make memories for the crowds who come to see the spectacular in person, as well as the millions more who are watching at home.<\/p>\n
Montgomery grew up in Missouri, where she watched the parade on television \u2014\u00a0decades before she even imagined taking such a prominent role in the event. Ralph Bavaro\/NBC via Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember watching the parade as a kid with my dad on television in St. Louis,\u201d the Missouri native recalled. \u201cOne of the first things I wanted to do when I moved to New York City in 1988 was stand on the street in the cold and watch Macy\u2019s parade go by, which I did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really does kick off the holiday season,\u201d she continued. \u201cMacy\u2019s has been doing this for 99 years \u2014 that\u2019s pretty phenomenal.\u201d<\/p>\n
The host with the most <\/p>\n
Marty Rogers, 70, organizes a sit-down meal for hundreds in his neighborhood, the Melrose section of The Bronx. Stefano Giovannini for Ny Post<\/p>\n
Marty Rogers, a 70-year-old retiree and lifelong member of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in the Melrose section of The Bronx, can\u2019t even remember what it\u2019s like to kick back and relax on Thanksgiving Day.<\/p>\n
For the past 47 years, he\u2019s been a pivotal part of the holiday dinner offered by the parish to neighbors in need \u2014\u00a0an event he helped organize when he was just a kid, and one he now organizes and oversees.<\/p>\n
The idea for the free feast originated when elderly parishioners with no family in the area had nowhere to go. Wanting to help, the Immaculate Conception youth group decided to serve up a modest meal.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had three turkeys, which we conned our parents into making,\u201d Rogers told The Post, chuckling at the memory. \u201cBecause we were high school and college folks, we weren\u2019t exactly doing much in terms of the kitchen. But the need was there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rogers (right) works with a small army of community volunteers, including local firefighters, to pull of the annual event in a church basement near The Hub. Enrique Gonzalez<\/p>\n
Nearly five decades later, the annual do has ballooned to become a full-on event in the church\u2019s social hall, complete with a whopping 40 turkeys served by 150 volunteers, multiple courses and, in recent years, even entertainment put on by a local troupe of Mexican dancers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re like Radio City Music Hall, except we feed you,\u201d Rogers said.<\/p>\n
Holiday culinary staples like mashed potatoes, stuffing and cranberry sauce are prepared to feed approximately 500 hungry eaters. The church typically serves around 200 seated in the hall (though some take their meals to go), delivering the rest to\u00a0those who can\u2019t physically make it to the banquet.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rogers is loud and proud about the fact that the church\u2019s young people, ranging from elementary school to high school students, make up more than half of the dinner\u2019s volunteers. The event is a family affair, too \u2014\u00a0his wife Francine Nolin-Rogers and their three adult children and grandchildren have happily pitched in over the years.<\/p>\n
The event got its start decades ago when Rogers was a member of the church youth group, which wanted to do something for elderly parishioners stuck without family on Thanskgiving Day. Enrique Gonzalez<\/p>\n
The church doesn\u2019t advertise the meal on social media, rather relying on word-of-mouth and flyers handed out on Rogers\u2019 regular Hope Walks, where he hands out sandwiches and encouragement along E. 149th St. multiple times a week, throughout the year.<\/p>\n
Donations in the form of food and funds are gathered before the big day in preparation. Rogers estimates that the dinner costs around $3,000 in total, but would cost over $7,000 if they had to pay for turkeys, which the nearby Sisters of Christian Charity (who run a turkey drive in conjunction with a New Jersey church) usually provide, along with other local groups.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Volunteers spend the Monday before Thanksgiving sprucing up the hall with streamers and decorations to make it look \u201cbeautiful and very festive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Others prepare the turkeys in their own homes, garnishing the meat with herbs and spices. Rogers said that the birds prepared in some volunteers\u2019 homes come out smelling like garlic, while others have the distinct scent of jerk.<\/p>\n
Rogers shows the basement social hall at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, where the Thanksgiving Day dinner is held every year. Stefano Giovannini for Ny Post<\/p>\n
As for the service itself, Rogers is adamant that it runs like a \u201cfive star restaurant.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen (the guests) come in, they\u2019re greeted, they get a name tag,\u201d Rogers said. \u201cEveryone calls each other by their name. Then they go to the ma\u00eetre d\u2019, who wears a bow tie and seats people\u2026We take care of them, that\u2019s our motto. We don\u2019t want them to get up.\u201d<\/p>\n
The volunteers, many of whom are bilingual and can serve the area\u2019s large Spanish-speaking population, do more than simply pass out plates.<\/p>\n
As they take orders (each person can select what items they prefer off the pre-set menu), Rogers asks his younger volunteers that instead of going on their \u201cbloody cellphones,\u201d they take a bit of time to chat with the guests. He\u2019s observed that they gladly oblige.<\/p>\n
Volunteers line up at the table to take plates of food to the dinner guests, who are invited to be seated when they arrive, and never have to get up during the meal. Enrique Gonzalez<\/p>\n
Though Rogers is hesitant to accept any amount of credit for the dinner\u2019s yearly success, fellow Immaculate Conception parishioner Mary Anne Christopher was quick to emphasize how integral he is to pulling off the feast \u2014 along with how eager fellow church members and members of the community are to help him do it.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe asks, and we answer,\u201d Christopher told The Post. \u201cHe\u2019s pretty much like, \u2018No pressure, do what you can\u2019, but people figure it out because they want to help. They find a way.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
When the day is done (typically around 2 p.m.), Rogers, his wife and any children and grandchildren present then help clean up before heading home, where they enjoy their own meal together as a family \u2014 that\u2019s anything but turkey.<\/p>\n
Thanksgiving is just one day on Rogers\u2019 busy calendar \u2014\u00a0he\u2019s known around the neighborhood for his frequent, sometimes three-times-weekly Hope Walks, where he feeds sandwiches and offers prayers and encouragement to people along E. 149th St. and surrounding blocks in the struggling area. Stefano Giovannini for Ny Post<\/p>\n
\u201cWe usually have baked ziti and meatballs, sausage or chicken parmesan. Some kind of Italian food, because we\u2019re tired of smelling and looking at turkeys,\u201d Rogers admitted. \u201cWe\u2019ve been in turkey mode up to the elbows for weeks at that point.\u201d<\/p>\n
And while he\u2019s exhausted at the end of the day, he wouldn\u2019t have Thanksgiving any other way, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were built to share. We were built to be brothers and sisters \u2014 we\u00a0are\u00a0brothers and sisters,\u201d said Rogers. \u201cKindness and service and sharing is our natural environment, and we\u2019ve gotten away from that\u2026Give (your time) away and just keep it simple. That\u2019s what I\u2019ve seen from the generosity of so many wonderful people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Let her cook<\/p>\n
More than a decade after starting her culinary career, Hav & Mar executive chef Fariyal Abdullahi, 39, said she\u2019s used to spending Thanksgiving and other holidays in a restaurant. Dan Chen<\/p>\n
To Fariyal Abdullahi, a 39-year-old executive chef helming the kitchen at trendy Chelsea seafood spot Hav & Mar, spending Thanksgiving bustling around the cheery restaurant accompanied by her beloved staff seems only natural.<\/p>\n
Now in her thirteenth year of working her way up the culinary industry ladder \u2014 during which she \u201ccut her teeth\u201d at the World\u2019s 50 Best and three-Michelin-star Copenhagen establishment Noma and worked the 2021 Met Gala \u2014 Abdullahi maintains that she\u2019s gotten used to donning her chef\u2019s jacket and cap during these traditional days of rest.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey tell you these things in culinary school \u2014 that you\u2019re going to be working Thanksgiving and Christmas and you probably won\u2019t be able to make most graduations or birthday parties,\u201d Abdullahi told The Post. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t really sink in then, but the first year you\u2019re an actual professional working in a kitchen, it\u2019s no joke.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abdullahi said that the way Hav & Mar guests are particularly expressive with their gratitude for the restaurant\u2019s mouthwatering international cuisine on Thanksgiving Day makes it much easier to come into work on everyone else\u2019s day off.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s had stints at Noma in Copenhagen and has cooked at the Met Gala, but she\u2019s still behind the counter at her trendy Chelsea restaurant on Thanksgiving Day. Angela Bankhead<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one\u2019s ever in a bad mood on Thanksgiving,\u201d Abdullahi said, laughing. \u201cEveryone who comes in here is just so grateful that we\u2019re even open\u2026More than any other day, I always have guests coming to say \u2018thank you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Abdullahi, handpicked by restaurateur Marcus Samuelsson to lead the team at Hav & Mar, which opened in late 2022, had not always aimed to become a chef.<\/p>\n
Born and raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, she came to the United States at 17 to pursue a bachelor\u2019s degree in psychology \u2014\u00a0with the ultimate goal of becoming a doctor, like most of her five older siblings.<\/p>\n
However, when the time came to apply to grad school, Abdullahi found herself secretly filling out culinary school applications instead.<\/p>\n
Born in Ethiopia, Abdullahi found a kindred spirit in Ethiopian-Swedish celeb chef Marcus Samuelsson (right), who tapped her to run Hav & Mar. Angela Bankhead<\/p>\n
Over a decade later, Abdullahi\u2019s dream has become a reality. She infuses her cooking with the fierce pride she holds in her Ethiopian roots and the influence of her years in Nordic kitchens \u2014 two connections she serendipitously shares with Ethiopian-Swedish chef Samuelsson, who named the restaurant after the Swedish word for ocean (\u201chav\u201d) and Amharic word for honey (\u201cmar\u201d).<\/p>\n
Though this blended heritage served as the original inspiration for the critically acclaimed eatery \u2014 where plates range from $13 for a blue cornbread appetizer to $109 for slow-cooked oxtail biryani \u2014 Abdullahi shared that the menu, which rotates four times a year and is still largely seafood, has since evolved to tell the culinary story of a broader range of immigrants.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI have two (sous) chefs from the Philippines and they started making me some Filipino dishes,\u201d Abdullahi recalled. \u201cI have a line cook who\u2019s from Peru, I have a line cook who\u2019s from Ecuador, and everybody just kind of started to chime in. Chef Marcus and I had a conversation and we were like, you know what? This is exactly what New York is.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Thanksgiving Day, Abdullahi does not curate a menu with the traditional American fixings, though the restaurant did try utilizing a buffet style with classic staples during its first year.<\/p>\n
Abdullahi told The Post she\u2019s happy to create a temporary home for those without other plans on the big holiday \u2014\u00a0and that she hopes they feel like they were part of something special. Angela Bankhead<\/p>\n
Instead, guests can order one of Hav & Mar\u2019s signature dishes \u00e0 la carte \u2014 which are prepared by Abdullahi and the rest of the restaurant team. Typically, that includes three people for prep work in the morning and six people at night to serve up to 140 customers (though the holiday turnout historically rings in at around 80).<\/p>\n
Abdullahi shared that her Hav & Mar staff \u2014 some of whom have been there since the restaurant\u2019s opening \u2014 feels like \u201can extended family,\u201d which makes spending the day away from blood relatives a bit easier on everyone.<\/p>\n
Prior to their Thanksgiving shift, the group sits down to their own holiday-inspired \u2018family meal\u2019 \u2014 a tradition in some restaurants where employees gather together to eat food before serving guests. While the spread is typically prepared by one person in the eatery\u2019s kitchen, Abdullahi says that almost everyone likes to pitch in on Turkey Day.<\/p>\n
\u201cA couple days ago, one of our supervisors for the A.M. prep team named Maria asked if for Thanksgiving this year, she could make us tamales,\u201d Abdullahi recalled. \u201cThen she and the prep team were planning out different flavors and asking everyone what they wanted to eat. It was really cute.\u201d<\/p>\n
The secret sauce to this close-knit feel? Abdullahi makes sure she \u201calways leaves (her) kitchen with joy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere will always be discipline and making sure there\u2019s work getting done, but I have a \u2018no yelling\u2019 policy \u2014 I try to create as joyful an environment as I can,\u201d she continued. \u201cSo we\u2019re always playing music, we\u2019re always having fun. It\u2019s a great place to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than anything, Abdullahi hopes that the Hav & Mar Thanksgiving crowd leaves their feast feeling \u201cfilled with \u2018joie de vivre.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI love creating traditions with my team and creating a temporary home for people who can\u2019t be with (the rest of) their families for whatever reason,\u201d Abdullahi said. \u201cI want them to leave feeling cared for, like they were part of something special.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For most New Yorkers, Thanksgiving is a day of celebration, a day to spend time with family \u2014\u00a0and,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":408353,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,6335,7265,9829,1165,30572,147987,5248,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,988,44599,5305,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-408352","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-exclusive","10":"tag-homelessness","11":"tag-human-interest","12":"tag-lifestyle","13":"tag-macys","14":"tag-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade","15":"tag-metro","16":"tag-new-york","17":"tag-new-york-city","18":"tag-newyork","19":"tag-newyorkcity","20":"tag-ny","21":"tag-nyc","22":"tag-restaurants","23":"tag-thanksgiving","24":"tag-the-bronx","25":"tag-united-states","26":"tag-united-states-of-america","27":"tag-unitedstates","28":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","29":"tag-us","30":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115621776351225943","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}