The WKU Big Red Marching Band was invited to perform in the 2025 London New Year’s Day Parade.
Band members were gathered onto the football field on Monday, Sept. 18, where they were told they were going to be taking a group photograph.
Much to their surprise, Bob Bone, the Chairman and Founder of the London New Year’s Day Parade (LNYDP), along with his colleagues Steve Summers, chair of the London mayors’ association and former Lord Mayor of the City of Westminster, Dean Oblonsky, senior American consultant and Bill Northern, senior director of international participation, arrived at the stadium to present the formal invite to perform in London. It was presented to Matthew McCurry, associate director of bands and director of athletic bands, Gary Schallert, director of bands, Terrance Brown, dean of the Potter College of Arts and Letters, WKU President Timothy Caboni and the Big Red Marching Band.
The LNYDP annually occurs in London, and is similar to Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The LNYDP is internationally broadcasted on PBS to millions of people, according to PBS. Around 70 groups are invited to perform at the parade each year.
Both Schallert and McCurry have performed in the LNYDP themselves. Schallert performed in the very first parade in 1987, and McCurry performed in 2010.
The marching band was presented with the formal invitation to perform in the parade, a pin from the LNYDP, a memento from King Charles III and an umbrella for good luck.
Bone said the Big Red Marching Band was chosen for this opportunity because of their reputation and ability to entertain others while also enjoying themselves.
Band members who choose to participate will not only perform at the LNYDP on Jan. 1, 2025, but will spend a week in London sightseeing.
“I’m so excited. I cannot wait to tell my parents,” Emily Boyle, senior music education major and drum major in the Big Red Marching Band, said.
The 2025 trip will coincide with the Big Red Marching Band’s 100 year anniversary.
“It is going to be a tremendous year, something that will be a lot of fun, and a chance for us to really show what we have accomplished as an organization over the last 100 years,” Schallert said.
The marching band plans to hold various fundraisers so that each student wanting to attend the trip can have the opportunity to celebrate all the hard work they have done.
“We get to celebrate the people behind the instruments […] we get to celebrate each and every one of you,” Brown said.
News Reporter Ali Costellow can be reached at [email protected]
