by Tammy Garcia
The student members of Jackson Liberty High School’s band, color guard and cheerleaders spent their Thanksgiving entertaining thousands in the 6ABC Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade. There were an estimated six hundred to eight hundred thousand spectators at the parade. It was also televised and broadcasted throughout the nation to millions of viewers at home.
Scott Katona, the band’s director said, “This is a big deal! Bands from FL, AL, SC, OH, IN, DE and all over the country were chosen to march in the parade but we were the only band selected to do a production number. As soon as I found out I immediately contacted the cheerleaders to see if they wanted to perform with us as well. The cheerleaders have performed with the band before in the Miss America Parade and NYC Pulaski Parade and the band wanted to include them in this experience as well.”
The band applied to be in the parade in 2016 and found out in February they were one of the few accepted to march in the parade. A few months later, they were again contacted by the producers of ABC and were informed they were the only band selected to do a LIVE performance in the broadcast and grandstand area. The song they chose to perform was Justin Timberlake’s, “Can’t Stop the Feeling”. The group also performed “Hey Baby”, “Rocky” and drum line “Street Beats” while entertaining the crowd lined along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
The Jackson Liberty band has had an outstanding year winning the State Championship, New York Metropolitan Region Championship and are the reigning Atlantic Coast Champions. In the past year, they have performed in prestigious parades in NY, Washington DC, NJ, and PA. All of the accolades the group has earned in the short history of the school being opened shows how great the music program is at Jackson Liberty High School.
