The Vandegrift High School marching band will perform as one of five featured bands in the 2022 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City.
“We are thrilled to be performing at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York this November,” VHS Marching Band Director Katie VanDoren said. “This is an event we have been looking forward to since the spring of 2020, so needless to say, there has been a lot of build up for our community. The band has been enthusiastic and hard at work, and is excited to put on a fantastic performance!”
The band was originally selected as a featured performer in 2020 and scheduled to perform in the 2021 Macy’s Parade, but due to COVID-19, the band’s performance was pushed to 2022.
At the time of the application process in 2020, current LISD Director of Fine Arts Mike Howard was the VHS band director. He said that the application process was extensive, due to the highly selective standards of the Macy’s Band Selection Committee.
“We had to submit a video of the band’s competitive field show, along with a program resume, staff resumes, evidence of strong community service, examples of public relations material and letters of recommendation from nationally recognized music educators,” Howard said.
Band member Mihir Gupta, a junior at VHS, said that everyone in the band is looking forward to this experience, even though there are some nerves involved in preparing for such a high-profile event. The band will be performing a medley of Symphony No. 4 and 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky for their NBC spot.
“Marching in a parade that’s televised everywhere is going to be challenging,” Gupta said. “But as a whole, everyone’s looking forward to playing and marching and we’re just going to have some fun.”
There will be a Macy’s Parade preview at VHS Saturday, Nov. 19.
