An estimated 3.5 million will watch from city streets, plus more than 50 million will be tuning in. Watch video
AMHERST – As it is for millions of others, watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade is part of Stephanie Gendron's holiday tradition.
“It’s something I’ve watched ever since I was a little kid,” said the 19-year-old Southwick resident.
This year, she'll have a closer view.
On this Thanksgiving, Gendron along with 393 fellow “bandos” from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst Minuteman Marching Band will become part of that tradition.
Known as “The Power and Class of New England” the band is one of just 11 marching in the parade and the only one from New England. It is also one of only two college bands in the parade.
“To be a part of it is pretty magical,” Gendron said.
The band has known about the honor since April 2012, but it’s only now as the days grow closer that band members are feeling the excitement.
“I was completely shocked,” said clarinetist Hillary Bylicki, a 21-year-old senior from Ludlow. “I had no idea we had put in an application.”
“It hasn’t seemed real until the past couple of weeks. It’s a little scary and very exciting.
We’ve worked really hard this season. It’s going to be exhausting and a lot of hard work but such a wonderful experience. It means a lot for us and the university,” she said.
UMass is in the midst of celebrating the 150th-anniversary of its founding in 1863. VIEW A GALLERY OF IMAGES released by the school in celebration of its history. Band Director Timothy Todd Anderson said state Sen. Stanley C. Rosenberg, D-Amherst, a former bando himself, put in a recommendation for the band to perform as part of the university’s sesquicentennial celebration, which he thinks helped the university get chosen. The sesquicentennial ends next month.
The band has been practicing for the parade around practices for its football game and other fall performances, but since the final home football game last weekend, it’s been all Macy's, all the time.
The music the band will play in New York is familiar, especially to UMass football and basketball fans. As they march the 2.5-mile route from Central Park West to Macy’s, they will play “Fight UMass,” “God Bless America,” “Cheer for UMass / Roll Down the Field” and “Sweet Caroline,” the latter in celebration of the Red Sox World Series victory last month.
And when they stop at the Macy’s red star at 11:24 a.m., they will perform “Big Noise From Winnetka.” The UMass Hoop Band – made up of about a quarter of the marching band – rocks that swing-era standard at the end of UMass basketball games and has for decades, Anderson said. “We wanted something to reflect our history.”
While they get 15 minutes to play at halftime on football games - and a bit longer for their traditional "fifth quarter" show after the games - they have just 75 seconds to showcase the band's talent in front of Macy's flagship store.
One challenge is squeezing the band into the star performance space, which is much smaller than a football field, Anderson said. They’ve been practicing on a star on the practice field on campus.
The band has had significant accomplishments, including playing at three presidential inaugurations and receiving the 1998 Louis C. Sudler trophy, which honors the top collegiate band in the country. But Anderson said, “This is the biggest spotlight, the highest profile.”
An estimated 3.5 million will watch from city streets, plus more than 50 million will be tuning in.
“This is an opportunity to sell the university to a huge audience,.” he said.
Meanwhile, the practices go on. There were three this week. On Monday at 5:30 p.m., the band will step off from the practice fields off Commonwealth Avenue and march around the campus. They travel Tuesday, and on Wednesday will rehearse once more at West Orange High School in New Jersey.
Seven buses, two 20-foot box trucks and two 13-passenger vans will transport the band and equipment.
On the way back, buses will head in different directions to drop students off at locations where family members can retrieve them for Thanksgiving. Organizing those buses is a job for junior Christopher Lukasik, of South Hadley. Besides playing the euphonium, as personnel manager, he’s in charge of that and it’s a job he loves.
Lukasik said he is excited but not nervous about the Macy's performance. When he was in the South Hadley High School Marching Band, he performed in the Holyoke St. Patrick’s Parade. So he thinks performing in Macy's “will be a walk in the park.”
Alarms ring at 2:30 a.m. Thanksgiving morning for the band members, who are scheduled for a 10-minute run-through at 4 a.m. at the Macy’s star for the NBC camera crews, Anderson said.
Following breakfast, they will get in formation at 7:40 a.m.
“We usually have big trips,” said Jake Balcanoff, a 21-year-old senior from Greenfield and one of four section leaders. “I never imagined something that big. I can’t wait to show everyone what our band is all about.”
Gendron, the sophomore clarinetist, said she’s looking forward to “bringing joy to all the little kids like when I was young.”