Whoo! Lots of fun stuff in 2019! So, I am a pro musician and trumpet player down in Florida. In my area there is an adult marching band. It is mainly much older people than me and just more amatuer level than anything. It is also about 500 strong and they travel the world. I did not know playing in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was on my bucket list, but here we are! I went with the Sidekick, as she used to live in NYC and was itching to get back to visit.
So the Macy’s thing was a good year and a half in the making. The buddy who I met up in Colorado the first trip and also who had the birthday that brought me down to South Florida this same year was also in the marching band. We were two of the “horses” so to speak in the trumpet section and planned on doing the Macy’s thing. So, we did. It’s NYC. It’s late November. It was about as warm and windy as you might expect! A couple notes about the Macy’s situation: 1) The Choreography of both the performance and the logistics has to be spot on perfect to be put on the TV telecast. 2) The practice for the parade and those logistics happens at like 1 or 2 AM and then from there its to breakfast and then lining up by 8. Not a short day at all! The Sidekick and I did a little New York stuff when we got into the city. The entire band was in a hotel just behind Times Square, so a super convenient location for sure. We did the performance, it went off pretty well! The Sidekick and I did some exploring of the city that night and the following day.
Early Sat we got up and ubered our way to Laguardia. The sidekick was back to Florida and I was off to Indiana, first.
Overall impressions: Pros: A neat once in a lifetime experience! NYC is a lot of fun and plenty of stuff to do. Cons: Cold and windy in the winter. Probably too busy for my liking. The band has done 2 Macy’s parades in only 11 years. If it comes up again, I have little desire to do this again.
The Adventurer Final Word:
5 Stars! Just because so few get a chance to do the Macy’s Parade. NYC is cool too, but probably wouldn’t be a 5 star without the Macy’s Experience.
The Parks Adventurer 