The Marching 110 will travel to New York in fall 2017 to perform in the acclaimed Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Sidney Schloenbach, a member of the Ohio University Marching 110, walked into Richard Suk’s office a couple weeks ago for advising. Admiring the photographs on the wall of the band performing in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, she asked if they were going to travel to New York and perform in it during her college career.
Little did she know that she would receive the news that her dream of performing in the parade was going to come true.
The Marching 110 announced on Thursday that they will be one of ten bands marching in the 2017 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
“My initial reaction was complete shock,” Schloenbach, a freshman studying music education, said.” It was nothing I was expecting. ... Hearing that that dream could come true was just beyond exciting.”
The band applied in February and received word that their application was accepted about a month ago, Joshua Boyer, the assistant director of the 110, said. The reason they withheld the information for so long, Boyer added, was to plan out when the Macy’s representative was going to come to Ohio and deliver the news.
According to Boyer, the few people that knew about the reveal devised a plan to surprise the students. They told the students that reporters were going to be at their spring meeting — which take place every year — to interview them about their upcoming trip to France.
To keep up the ruse, Boyer said they even had the representative stand at the podium and talk in French.
When the Macy’s representative told the band that he was there for another reason, Boyer said the members of the marching band were confused until he explained that the band was going to be a part of the parade.
“So that was a really cool for us to do it because they really didn’t expect something like this,” he said.
The Marching 110 performed in the parade in 2000 and 2005.
“What really helps when you apply is to have a reason to do that particular year’s parade,” Boyer said. “For us, 2017 is an important milestone for the Marching 110. It’s our fiftieth anniversary of the Marching 110, as we know it today.”
In 1967, the marching band changed its style of marching, Boyer said, which is the reason they chose to apply for the 2017 parade.
Boyer said the band won’t start prepping for the parade until the 2017 marching season. He added that the band will have to build up its endurance.
According to the parade’s website, the route is 2.5 miles long. Boyer said the furthest the band marches on a regular basis is from Baker Center to Peden Stadium.
Boyer said the band is ecstatic to be a part of the 2017 line-up.
“There was more than one kid who said ‘It’s always been my dream to march in the Macy’s parade,’” Boyer said.
Congrats, @marching110! OHIO Marching 110 to perform in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade https://t.co/dyQR4RDgNU via @DispatchAlerts — OHIO Scripps College (@ScrippsOU) April 22, 2016
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