UMass was selected from hundreds of nationwide applicants to be one of 11 marching bands in the 2013 parade.
The UMass marching band plays holiday favorites at the Annual Merry Maple Festival in downtown Amherst last December.AMHERST — Macy’s Parade officials were on the University of Massachusetts campus Tuesday morning to let the marching band know they were chosen to be part of the 2013 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Wesley Whatley, Creative Director of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and head of the Parade’s Band selection committee, made the surprise announcement. This is the first time Minuteman Marching Band will march in the parade held annually in New York City on Thanksgiving morning.
UMass spokesman Edward F Blaguszewski said 2013 was targeted because that is the university’s sesquicentennial year, or 150th anniversary, and “we thought it would be a wonderful way to fit into that celebration.”
The band was selected from hundreds of nationwide applicants to be one of 11 marching bands in the 2013 parade, according to a parade press release.
The band, known as the "Power and Class of New England," has performed at three presidential inaugurals and in 1998 received the Louis C. Sudler Trophy, awarded in recognition of "the highest of musical standards and innovative marching routines and ideas,” according to a UMass release.
In a statement band director Timothy Todd Anderson said, "the selection is a fitting tribute to the many great people who have made the Minuteman Band what it is today.”
He credited the late George N. Parks, who died Sept. 16, 2010 after suffering a heart attack following a performance with the band at an Ohio high school. He and the band were on their way to play at the UMass-Michigan game in Ann Arbor.
Anderson also mentioned associate director Thom Hannum, who has been with the band for more than 30 years.
“For everyone who has ever been a part of the Minuteman Band, this invitation is because of you!" Anderson said in his statement.