Colony High School students got a big surprise on Thursday. Colony high students were called in to a special assembly meeting Thursday after lunch. When they got there, they got the news that has been kept secret for some time. And the result was pandemonium.
“For the very first time, in the state of Alaska’s history, Colony high school will represent the great state of Alaska and perform in New York City in the 2017 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade!” said Wesley Whatley with the Macy’s Thansgiving Day Parade. There were immediate cheers.
The news that the band had been selected was kept under wraps until Thursday’s announcement.
Whatley says Colony’s marching band was one of only ten selected to perform in the 2017 parade out of about two hundred applicants from around the nation and the world.
He says Macy’s officials look for certain aspects : entertainment quality, commitment to music and maneuvering on the field
“We look for bands with spirit, and we also look for band’s that represent their state well,” Whateley said. “So state’s that have a certain style, for instance, we look for bands that epitomize that style.”
About 9 thousand people march in the parade along New York city streets, while more than 50 million people watch on television nationwide, according to Macy’s officials.
Jamin Burton, band instructor at Colony, told the students that they have started a tradition at the school
“You’ve built something where there was nothing,” said Burton. “You’ve put in a ton of work and you’ve built a tradition and you act in a way that represents yourselves, your school and your families with class. And I’m proud of you and I think you absolutely deserve this. And we have a ton of work musically, artistically, logistically, fundraising, we’ve got a ton of work in front of us to make this work. But I would not have any other group of people I’d do that work with other than you. So thank you.. we’re going to New York!”
Band members Leah Smith, a sophmore, and McKenna Goody, a freshman, say they are excited about making the trip.
“I’m actually the baton twirler.. I’m very excited,” Smith said. “I also play a lot of instruments, like piano and percussion. But I like dancing around and doing characters in the show.. that’s really fun.” “I play in the marching band I play the vibraphone.”
LOCKYER: ” Is that hard to carry?”
“Actually, it can’t be carried, it’s a rolling instrument,” Smith clarified.
She’ll march behind the rest of the band in the show.
Burton, who sent in the band’s application, says he had confidence they would make the cut:
“It’s about the presentation and the art of the whole thing with marching,” Burton said. “We’re a unique story and a unique group, and they perform really well. They work their tails off, so I knew we had a chance.”
The band’s trip to New York city is not funded by Macy’s. Colony’s Thee Northern Sound marching band must raise it’s own expenses through fundraisers.
APTI Reporter-Producer Ellen Lockyer started her radio career in the late 1980s, after a stint at bush Alaska weekly newspapers, the Copper Valley Views and the Cordova Times. When the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Valdez Public Radio station KCHU needed a reporter, and Ellen picked up the microphone.
Since then, she has literally traveled the length of the state, from Attu to Eagle and from Barrow to Juneau, covering Alaska stories on the ground for the AK show, Alaska News Nightly, the Alaska Morning News and for Anchorage public radio station, KSKA
elockyer (at) alaskapublic (dot) org | 907.550.8446 | About Ellen
