Seven Greeneville High School students have been chosen for the 98th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
The Macy’s Great American Marching Band is a national hour band, including 225 musicians and color guard selected by audition. Once a student is chosen for the program, they are automatically invited back the following year, leading to a great Thanksgiving day tradition.
The selected musicians will fly to New York this Saturday to begin rehearsals. During their time in the city they will tour Radio City Music Hall, watch the Rockettes’ Christmas Spectacular, and have plenty of time to explore Manhattan.
Selected member, Lucas Valk, will be attending his third parade this thanksgiving, he says “My favorite part of the week is getting to free roam with my friends… enjoying random spontaneity and the adventurous feeling of exploring an unfamiliar place”.
The parade will begin early for the students. They will have a dress rehearsal overnight in front of the Macy’s flagship store on 34th Street, eat breakfast, then line up at Central Park to wait for the parade to begin.
New York hosts about 3.5 million spectators along the route for the parade with 55 million watching on TV.
Another student attending for his third year is Hank Parsley who says, “something that has always stood out to me was the size of the crowd. I would look up and see hundreds of people watching from the second and third floors of every building with windows”
This years Greeneville High School participants include seniors Brady Freshour (trumpet), Hank Parsley (saxophone), Lucas Valk (saxophone), and Andrew Whitaker (snare drum), as well as juniors Caleb Johnson (saxophone), Hailey Law (color guard), and Brenna Widmaier (snare drum).
