Watch Now
News

Actions

Grain Valley High School band set to march in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

There will be a little piece of Kansas City in New York City this Thanksgiving.
Posted
and last updated

You know the song - "Kansas City" by Fats Domino. But for these flutists, drummers and color guard members, it's New York City, here they come.

"Even though we are small, we can put out a big sound and we put in the preparation that is needed to put on a good show," said Maddie Jenkins, a trumpeter with the Grain Valley High School marching band.

Two years ago, the marching band applied to perform in the 2016 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  

"We started out as a little band with big ambitions and now we are finally getting up there," said Kaitlyn Helm, a flutist. "We have achieved so much in the past couple of years."

The band found out it would play the parade about a year and a half ago. Since then, members have been preparing for this upcoming Thursday.

"The TV production time that you get on national broadcast is about a minute and 15 seconds. For that minute and 15 seconds we will have put in somewhere between 200 and 300 hours of rehearsal," said band director Reid Atkinson.
 
The group will march from the upper west side in Manhattan to one of New York's most renowned landmarks -- the Macy's at 34th St.
 
They'll play "Kansas City" and the "Missouri Waltz", among other songs, on the route.
 
The day before the parade, the TODAY show invited them to perform in their studio during the broadcast, reviving an old tradition that started in 1956.
-------

Terra Hall can be reached at terra.hall@kshb.com.

Follow her on Twitter:

Follow @TerraHall

Connect on Facebook:

 

 

Copyright 2016 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Report a typo

480X360Voice.png

A Voice for Everyone