KC-area high school band will march in Thanksgiving Day parade once again
For the third time in 14 years, the Blue Springs High School marching band will participate in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City.
The Golden Regiment Marching Band appeared in the annual parade in 2005. It was five years later, in 2010, when the band made its next appearance.
Blue Springs learned last year it was chosen from among hundreds of applicants for one of the nine marching band slots for this year’s 93rd edition of the holiday spectacular. This school year, the Golden Regiment placed first out of 84 bands at the American Super Regional band competition for Class 3A performers.
On Sunday, more than 200 Blue Springs student band members will travel to New York. In their midst will be sister and brother Daniela and Ismael Cervantes, who see it as a once in a lifetime experience.
“We are very excited,” said Daniela, an 18-year-old clarinet player and senior at Blue Springs High School. She and her brother immigrated to the United States from Mexico eight years ago with their parents. The two are the first in their family to play instruments.
The first time Daniela picked up an instrument to play, it was a trumpet. “I couldn’t get any sound out of it,” she said, laughing. “But I really liked clarinet. It just felt good.”
Watching Daniela’s passion, practice and playing in middle school band concerts inspired Ismael, 16, to follow her lead. When he first put a trumpet to his lips to play it was “just right,” Isamael said.
Neither of the two remember watching the Macy’s parade on television when they were younger. But Daniela says their parents have watched for many years.
“It’s awesome that our first experience is going to be us marching in it. I am looking forward to seeing all the people.” That includes her parents, who will be among the throngs lining the parade route.
The band will play Sheryl Crow’s “Soak Up the Sun” and, at the end of the route in front of Macy’s, an arrangement of Chuck Mangione’s “Land of Make Believe” for the holiday street show.
Tim Allshouse, who has directed the Golden Regiment for the past 19 years, said the two siblings are very good musicians. But the entire marching band has had a “really special year, and I can’t think of a better way to end it than to march in America’s parade.”
He’s hoping for good weather since “that parade goes on no matter what, rain, snow or freezing cold.”
Daniela says she’s just looking forward to what will be the highlight of her high school years.
“Yeah,” said her brother, a sophomore. “It’s something we will never forget.” And after marching in the parade, “watching it every year from now on will become a part of our lives.”
The 93rd Annual Thanksgiving Day Parade will be shown live at 9 a.m. Thursday on NBC (and at 8 a.m. on CBS ). The parade travels from Central Park to the Macy’s at Herald Square in New York and features 50-foot balloons, marching bands and live performances by celebrities and Broadway companies.
This story was originally published November 24, 2019 at 5:00 AM.
