Area marching band invited to perform at London Parade

Bob Bone, the London Parade founder and chairman, attended the ceremony with several other dignitaries. He said the Troy high band is a crowd-pleaser

“The first time they came, they wowed the crowds. They blew them away. They were absolutely fantastic. And how it’s a no-brainer invitation. We just love having them,” Bone said.

“This is a really meaningful, once-in-a-lifetime, life-changing experience for these students, and that’s why it’s really important for us to do everything necessary to get these students to go,” said Molly Venneman, high school marching director of bands.

“The world is global now, and it’s really important now that we show our students that in every way that we can,” she said. “When the students come back, they talk about it for years. It really is a cornerstone moment in their high school career, if not their entire lifetime, and so it really can open their eyes to what else is out there, and to get to perform for so many people is just an incredible experience. We can’t wait!”

This will be the band’s seventh appearance in the London Parade since 2002. It has since performed every four years (with a slight delay thanks to COVID), allowing each high school band member the opportunity to march once during their high school career.

A total of 73 acts and 8,000 performers from 26 countries will participate in the parade. Roughly 750,000 people will line the 2.2-mile parade route, which will also be broadcast to 340 million people worldwide.

Venneman and associate band director Casey Layer accepted the formal invitation from Duncan Sandys, the former Lord Mayor of West Minster and great-grandson of Winston Churchill.

“They’re just great performers, and the level that they play at is so high,” Sandys said of the Troy band. “It’s one of the best that we’ve ever seen in this country, and we just love having them come back.”

Students will be responsible for paying their own way to the parade. The band plans to have a number of fundraisers help pay the cost. Although it’s still more than a year away, the students who are planning on attending are looking forward to the experience.

“Sophomore field commander Coralee Whicker said she’s never been overseas.

“I think it will be a great firsthand experience for me and all of my fellow band people. I feel like all of us feel very honored, especially since we are on the smaller side of most of the bands (in London),” Whicker said. “I think we are all preparing ourselves for the amount of people that are going to be there, especially because we’re in such a small town and there’s going to be thousands of people watching us.”