America’s Thanksgiving Parade is locked and loaded and ready to rock! WOMC’s Chuck Gaidica says we’ll have some of the finest weather ever for the big parade, too. He’s calling for sunny skies and a Bird Day high of 60.

This is the 86th year for the parade, one of the country’s oldest and most celebrated parades. It steps off at 9:05am on Woodward and Mack and will end at Woodward and Congress in downtown Detroit.

Congressman John Dingell and his wife Debbie are this year’s Parade Grand Marshals. There will be plenty of VIPs taking part in the parade including 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion Brad Keselowski, who is a Rochester Hills native.

Other VIPs attending the parade:

• Alex Morgan from the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team
• Allison Schmitt – American Swimmer and six time Olympic medalist
• Ashanti – Grammy award winning singer, songwriter, actor and author
• Ray Scott – Pistons great and Michigan Sports Hall of Famer
• Jason Earles – Actor and comedian known for his roles in Hanna Montana
• Dave Hester – Reality TV star of A&E’s Storage Wars
• Lomas Brown – Detroit Lions’ great
• Miss Michigan USA Jaclyn Schultz
• Hooper
• Roary
• PAWS
• Strawberry Shortcake
• Clownie
• And of course – Santa Claus

Another highlight of the day includes the 30th annual Turkey Trot, Michigan’s largest 10K run with 20,000 participants expected.