UMass Amherst Minuteman Marching Band to Perform in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on Nov. 28
The University of Massachusetts Minuteman Marching Band will be featured in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday, Nov. 28, one of only four university marching bands selected to perform in the 98-year-old nationally televised event.
This year marks the second time the band was chosen to participate by the Macy’s Parade Selection Committee, having been previously selected for inclusion in 2013.
The 400+ member complement of the “Power and Class of New England” will include musicians, baton twirlers, dancers and color guard members. The university’s mascot, Sam the Minuteman, will also join the band in its march along the three-and-a-half hour, 2.5-mile parade route from 77th Street to Herald Square, which includes a featured stop in front of Macy’s flagship store at Broadway and 34th Street. The band has been practicing a new routine that has been adjusted to accommodate performing in the confined space of a two-lane street instead of the expanse of a football field.
Watch the announcement from halftime of the Oct. 7, 2023, football game, which includes band members’ reactions to the news.
“The members of the band are thrilled by this opportunity,” says director Timothy Todd Anderson, who has led the Minuteman Marching Band since 2011. “They’ve devoted hours to perfecting the 75-second routine that will be seen by millions in front of the flagship Macy’s store.”
“We are so proud to have the Minuteman Marching Band represent Massachusetts at this iconic event,” says UMass Amherst Chancellor Javier Reyes. “Our band members are talented, innovative, dedicated, and have effusive school spirit. They are outstanding ambassadors for UMass Amherst and are a lot of fun to watch!”
The 98th Macy’s Parade lineup will be the largest yet, according to Macy’s, with more than 5,000 volunteers, 17 featured character balloons, 22 floats, 15 heritage and novelty balloons, more than 700 clowns, 11 marching bands, 10 performance groups and music’s biggest stars, all welcoming Santa Claus and the holidays.
The band will depart UMass Amherst for the Big Apple the morning of Monday, Nov. 25. In the days prior to the main performance, the band will rehearse in a bubble dome, hotel ballrooms and on the streets of New York. They will also join the Carolina Band of the University of South Carolina at Pier 16 near the South Street Seaport on Wednesday Nov. 27, where both bands will perform, beginning at 10 a.m.
Audiences nationwide can watch the official telecast Nov. 28 on NBC and Peacock, from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., in all time zones. An encore telecast will be available on NBC at 2 p.m. ET/PT.