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Photo by Zoya Tereshkova
Paul Laurence Dunbar High School's marching band is part of the elite group of marching bands from across the country chosen to participate in this year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. The iconic annual parade, which takes place on Thanksgiving Day (Thursday, Nov. 27), is typically seen live by more than 3.5 million viewers in New York, and broadcast to more than 50 million viewers across the country.
More than 175 marching bands applied to participate in the parade, with fewer than a dozen chosen for inclusion, including high school and university bands from across the country as well as the Macy's Great American Marching Band, an "all-star" group featuring students from all 50 states.
The line-up also includes the Madison Scouts - Corps of Brothers, an all-male corps with a 76-year history that features more than 300 alumni and 96 current members from six countries and 42 states, including FCPS Band Director Shaun Owens (Bryan Station High School) and Lafayette Band alumni Douglass Bratt (’88), Jay Hawkins (’09) and Turner Hawkins (’13). (The group will introduce Santa Claus in the parade.)
Dunbar's marching band, which has taken seven State Marching Band championship titles since the program was established in 1990, last participated in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2007. The team arrived in New York City on Monday and is scheduled to return to Lexington Saturday afternoon.
For more information on the PLD Band program, visit www.pldband.org/.
The parade is scheduled to broadcast on NBC from 9 a.m. to noon on Thursday.