Schools

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade to Feature Bernardsville Girl

Katie Jo Prendella will be among 21 area band members performing next week.

There are going to a few familiar faces marching in Macy's Thanksgiving's Day Parade. Twenty-one New Jersey residents, including students from Union and Somerset counties, will perform with 400 other members of the University of Massachusetts marching band for the TV cameras worldwide.

Band members from Somerset County include Katie Jo Prendella from Bernardsville and Danielle Hecht of Hillsborough. Union County students who will be marching are Emily Gluck from Westfield and Morgan Farrar of Rahway.

The UMass Marching Band is the largest collegiate marching band in the northeast and has won the Sudler Trophy, the highest honor a college marching band can receive. The band is often referred to as the "Power & Class of New England."

The band will be televised near the Macy's Red Star at 11:24 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 28. Preparations, though, start in the early morning hours. The band will arise at 2:30 am, then assemble and rehearse at 4 a.m. for NBC in front of the Macy’s store in midtown Manhattan.

At 7:45 a.m., the UMass band will begin marching down the streets of Manhattan, playing a repertoire which will consist of the school’s fight song, "Roll Down the Field,"  "God Bless America," and a Boston favorite: "Sweet Caroline" in honor of the Red Sox World Series champions this year.

As the band reaches the Macy’s Star, they will perform a favorite UMMB tune, "Big Noise From Winnetka." The song Bhas been traditionally played at the end of every basketball game since the mid-1980s by the hoop band.

In picture, left to right: Members of the University of Massachusetts Marching Band from New Jersey will be in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade this year.  From left to right are: 3rd row, Daniel Wu (Demarest), Adam Har-Zvi (Glen Rock), Neal Scheraga (Glen Rock), Dylan Casler (Montville), Morgan Farrar (Rahway), Emily Hopkins (Pennington), Katie Savarin (Cherry Hill) 2nd row: Julia Givens (Middletown), Ryan McNerney (Stanhope), Argan Pagotaisidro (Ridgewood), Carolyn Dirnfeld (Freehold), Sam Kaufman (Cherry Hill) , Spencer Weinstein (Mount Laurel), Danielle Hecht (Hillsborough) , Taylor Bertelsen (Howell).1st row:  Emily Gluck (Westfield), Morgan McGrane (Middletown), Katie Jo Prendella (Bernardsville), Julia Cardillo (Hazlet), Hope Bavier (High Bridge), and Demi Staluppi (Wayne).  


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