Centerville Jazz Band Supports Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade Appearance

CENTERVILLE, Ohio (WDTN) – As July 4th approaches, the Centerville Jazz Band is aiming for another holiday; they are preparing for their appearance in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade by starting to mobilize support.

“The fact that I can be a part of it this year is just amazing,” says Molly Holloway, who plays the flute.

“It’s something we’ve built since our first year, and we’ve always been lucky because two classes ahead of us were never going to go,” admits Grecia Garcia-Rodriguez, who plays the trombone.

The Centerville Jazz Band will be taking part in Macy’s 2021 Thanksgiving Day Parade. The band was supposed to leave in 2020, but COVID ruined everything.

“There’s just a lot of gratitude that we’re still lucky, and we can still represent the people who thought they were going to go,” says Amara Jain who is also a senior drum major and plays the clarinet.

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for anyone to go there, and I feel like we’ve just been put in the right place,” says Nevaeh Haskins, who is another senior drum major and plays of the clarinet.

It will cost around $ 350,000 to send the group to New York for a week. So far, they have raised around $ 35,000.

“Initially, we were hoping to raise around $ 100,000 from this. I think at this point I think if we could hit $ 50,000 we’d be thrilled, ”smiles Angie Boerger, Co-Chair of Centerville Band Boosters.

After losing some funding last year, they had to improvise. This year they are using a big local parade as a prelude to get to the biggest national one.

“The Americana parade here in Centerville is on July 5, and then after the parade the town has the street fair,” Boerger describes. “The Americana Festival has been very gracious, and they don’t normally allow fundraising at this event, but they will allow the Centerville Jazz Band to have a booth at the festival to raise money for Macy’s.”

Much of the cost is covered by parents, and it’s not just for buses, hotel rooms, and food.

“About $ 20 to $ 25,000 of that amount is outside of tuition, like copyright for music, design staff for writing, those kinds of things that are outside the bedrooms. hotel, food and buses etc. Said Boerger. “We would like to get more money just to come and help the students and their families, as many of our families have been affected by COVID and the loss of jobs.”

They hope to offset some of the expenses of the approximately 185 band members who will travel to the Big Apple to represent Centerville nationally.

“It’s really exciting to wear the Centerville name, to wear the school colors, to show the pride of our community in New York, to hear our little town name on the news. And I think that’s something everyone can be proud of. It’s not just us going there. It’s our community, ”says Garcia-Rodriguez.

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