AURORA—This year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, world famous as an American entertainment extravaganza, will include a musician from the Rockford Diocese.

 

Marmion Academy junior and trumpeter Thomas Chapski was selected to join the 2023 Macy’s Great American Marching Band (MGAMB). 

 

Thomas Chapski (Photo: Anna Stewart)

The MGAMB is comprised of the most elite student musicians across the United States. Chapski will be one of 185 musicians taking part in the parade, along with 40 flags and dancers. 

 

The annual parade features gigantic balloons, floats and celebrities, and the nation’s top marching bands. These bands and the MGAMB will perform for celebrity hosts, a grandstand audience, and more than 50 million television viewers watching the broadcast live on NBC. 

 

Chapski will have the opportunity to learn from music educators who come from around the country to direct and teach as section instructors. 

 

—By Terri Rios.