The Morgantown High School band was
chosen out of more than 150 applicants to take part in the annual New York City
parade, televised nationwide.
"Well, we've actually been applying
on and off for 17 years," said Keith Reed who directed the Morgantown High
School band in last week's Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.
It's the first time a West Virginia
band has been in the parade since the early 90s. Band members selected "Country
Roads" as the song they would play during the parade.
"When I was trying to think about
what to play, it just didn't seem like there was any other song we
should play, to be truthful,” said Reed.“It's kind of like West Virginia's state
anthem.”
The band is playing a version arranged
by Jim Miltenberger. His grandson, Jon, is a senior in the band.
"It's a special song because it's
really well known ,” said Jon Miltenberger. “I had a friend of mine who went to London and
they're from West Virginia also, and they were humming "Country Roads," and
someone from London just walked past and said, ‘Ah, John
Denver,’ so it's really a well-known song, and I think it's really fun that
we get to play that on national television."
The band started practicing for the
performance back in July. The preparation included rehearsals on a
stretch of unfinished highway.
"It was a good opportunity,
because there's a lot of space, and I think we were able to walk about five miles one time, to get in shape because it's a long parade,"
said Head Majorette, Adrienne Schmidt.
Schmidt led the band's auxiliary, called
the Majorettes and Mojiganettes, in a kick line during the main
number. Kristen Reed created the routine.
"I try to draw a lot of influence
from the Rockettes,” Reed said. “I have their Christmas Spectacular on DVD and
they're just amazing and fantastic, and I just love them."
The Rockettes were actually on the
band's schedule last week. The group took in a show at Radio City
Music Hall.
"We got to go on a little
backstage tour, so the girls seemed to really enjoy that a lot, and we
actually got to do a kick line on the radio city stage,” said Reed. “That was really neat and definitely a once in a lifetime experience."
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Getting the band to New York required
band members to raise more than $200,000. Rusty Bonasso plays trumpet
in the band. "We've had so many fundraisers,
and tons of generous donators, too,” Bonasso said. “We do pizza orders, sandwich orders, we
work at basically every athletic event for the university." |
All that fundraising allowed the group
to become the first Morgantown band to reach the parade since 1963. Keith Reed says he's happy about that.
"Every Thanksgiving Day, my
mother and I would lay on the floor when I was little and we'd watch the Macy's
parade. To be able for our school to be here and to represent,
not just our community and our town, but our state is an awesome
thing."