Winds may have kept the famous character balloons close to the ground during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday, but the 187 members of the Franklin Regional Panther Marching Band were soaring high as they performed for the crowds lining the New York City parade route.
“I think everyone was concerned about the wind, but the kids were comfortable,” band director Kevin Pollock said Friday. “Once you get out on the street and you’re in that parade, in the excitement, you largely forget about everything else.”
It was Franklin Regional’s third appearance in the famed holiday parade. The band previously marched in the 2003 and 2009 editions. “Every time you do it, it’s a great experience,” Pollock said.
This time out, the band performed “Roll Over Beethoven,” with bewigged senior honor guard member Jordan Snow portraying the titular classical composer at the keyboard of a tricked-out grand piano.
“We were looking for something upbeat and fun that people would recognize,” Pollock said of the number. “Including Beethoven, confetti and the piano seemed like a unique way to capture people’s attention.”
The piano, which wasn’t played during the routine, had some of its inner mechanism removed to provide space for special lighting effects and to reduce its weight so it could be pushed along the 2½-mile route by honor guard members Amanda Zegarelli and JoJo Huczko.
The band’s Thanksgiving Day schedule began with a 12:15 a.m. wake-up call and a 3:20 a.m. rehearsal in front of NBC network cameras. Arriving in New York City Monday evening, the band had time to take in a Broadway musical and the Radio City Rockettes Christmas Spectacular.
“It was a jam-packed couple of days,” Pollock said.
The Franklin Regional band and senior Silks member Emma Martin will split the $20,000 Bob Hope Band Scholarship Award, presented annually to a band marching in the Macy’s parade, and to one of its members. Pollock said the band will use its portion to supplement an annual scholarship its booster group awards to the winner of an essay contest open to senior band members; that scholarship will jump from $500 to $2,000 for the next several years.
Eric Tarosky, a 2009 Franklin Regional alumnus, won the Hope scholarship during the band’s previous Macy’s appearance.
