Wesley Whately, creative director of Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, made the announcement in the gym before more than 300 screaming band students from the West and freshman campuses, as well as Lakota Plains and Ridge junior schools, parents and school staff.
He took the students through a practice run of a long-standing Macy’s tradition before every parade. The students were handed multi-colored confetti and told to let it fly after the countdown of “5, 4, 3, 2, 1 — Let’s Have a Parade!”
On Nov. 28, 2013, the band will perform in front of 3 million spectators lining the streets of New York City and more than 50 million viewers nationwide for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, an international icon that marks the start of the traditional holiday shopping season. Whately said the band was one of 11 marching bands — and the only from Ohio — selected out of 150 applicants nationwide.
This will be the band’s most high profile performance ever, according to school officials.
“The hardest thing the past month was to keep my mouth shut and not tell kids and parents,” said Snyder, who anticipates about 250 band members will make the bus trip to New York.
“We’re the only band in Ohio ever to do the Rose Bowl Parade, Macy’s and the Midwest Band Clinic. The three big things for a high school band to do. This kind of finishes off the bucket list,” Synder said.
Macy’s selects the bands a year an a half early to give them time to raise funds to pay for the trip, which Snyder said will cost around $700 to $800 per student.
Holly Christopher, whose daughter, Lydia, is a sophomore French horn player, said she is excited.
“They worked really hard and they deserve it. I think Mr. Snyder is the best band director in the country and he deserves it too,” she said.
Laura Swartzel, whose son, Billy, a sophomore who plays trombone in the band, agreed.
“I am so excited. This has been the best news. This seems like something I wish I would have done when I was younger, but I was born in Uruguay, South America, and we don’t have marching bands there. I’m like living through him,” she said.
Snyder said he has one song in mind already. Because the school is Lakota West and the musical “West Side Story” is set in Manhattan, it’s only fitting “that Lakota West plays ‘West Side Story’ in New York.”
Contact this reporter at (513) 483-5219 or dewilson@coxohio.com.
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