Congratulations to the nine students from Illinois selected to participate in the 87th annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade as part of Macy’s Great American Marching Band. Congratulations, also, to all students from all 50 states, selected based on their musical ability and past achievements.
The parade, featuring 15 giant character balloons, 30 floats, 1,600 cheerleaders and dancers, 900 clowns, 11 marching bands, and about 2.5 million spectators along the route, will step off at 9 AM Eastern Time, 8 AM Central, in New York. The NBC television network will cover the parade, with hosts Matt Lauer, Al Roker, and Savanah Guthrie. The estimated TV audience is 50 million viewers.
The Macy’s Great American Marching Band will once again march into Herald Square for the parade.
The opportunity to participate is open to students from over 14,000 high schools across the country. Since 2006 when the band was formed, over 1,700 students have had the opportunity to perform.
This prestigious band has more than 245 students, representing every state. The musicians, under the direction of Dr. Richard Good, Auburn University, assisted by Barry Houser, University of Illinois, will be complemented by approximately 40 flags and dancers.
Among the group’s marchers will be nine from Illinois high schools:
- Omar Aranda from Kennedy High School in Chicago
- Devin Cano from Grant Community High School in Fox Lake
- John Gagnon from Cerro Gordo High School
- Eileen Lennon from Amos Alonzo Stagg High School in Palos Hills
- Elizabeth O’Brien from Centennial High School in Champaign
- Mike Roberts from Carl Sandburg High School in Orland Park
- Ryan Spiniolas from Crystal Lake South High School
- Roy Stewart II from Flora High School
- Taylor Stuenkel from Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School in Bradley
The students will also have the opportunity to attend a leadership/educational workshop while in New York. The workshop will focus on leadership and encourage students to achieve their maximum potential. In addition to marching in the parade, all selected participants’ package plans will include meals, lodging, and New York City sightseeing.
The Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette published a story yesterday about Ms O’Brien from Centennial, showing how this drum major for the Centennial Marching Chargers enjoys the opportunity to teach other students in the band.
“You are the student leader of the band and you have to set an example and you also conduct,” she was quoted as saying. “I really like teaching people and seeing them start to understand things I taught them.”
The Great American Marching Band helped open the show on NBC, with a spectacular performance that featured snare drummers attached to wheels that were rolled upside down. The full band entered Herald Square in their performance of a Christmas fanfare at 11:57, just two slots before Santa Claus.
In addition to marching bands from James Madison University, the US Marine Corps, the New York Police Department, and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, the following bands participated in the parade this year:
The Lakota West High School marching band from West Chester, Ohio, entered Herald Square at about 10:12 AM. The band’s 274 members performed a “Copland Fantasy,” based on the music of American composer Aaron Copland.
The Concord Community High School marching band from Elkhart, Ind., arrived at about 10:23, performing “Journey to the Center of the Mind.” Nearly one-fifth of the high school’s student population participates in the marching band. Band is big in many Indiana schools, but Concord actually inspired a book, American Band, published in 2007.
The Union High School marching band from Tulsa, Okla., marched into Herald Square performing “Sirens” at about 10:38. One of the band’s drum majors, junior Megan Harju, is the winner of the Bob Hope Scholarship Essay Contest and was singled out on national television during the parade.
The Tarpon Springs High School Outdoor Performance Ensemble, from Tarpon Springs, Fla., came in at about 10:56, with a performance entitled “An American Reunion.” The group finished their performance with a kiss that mimicked the famous 1945 photo of a sailor returning from WW II who kissed a woman in Times Square.
The Ooltewah (Tenn.) High School marching band played and twirled their way into Herald Square at about 11:07, bringing with them a Wizard of Oz theme. The original movie was released 75 years ago, and the band’s medley was performed in costume, as members dressed up as munchkins.
The Mountain View High School Toro Marching Band brought its 11 sets of siblings into Herald Square at about 11:31, performing a “Desert Holiday.” The band hails from Mesa, Ariz., the greatest distance traveled by any band this year.
The Marian Catholic High School marching band from Chicago Heights, Ill., was the last high school marching band to perform in front of Macy’s on 34th Street. They arrived at about 11:39, performing, with a precision documented repeatedly on these pages, Leroy Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride.”