Local cheerleaders to be in Macy's Parade
By Staff
Melissa Dozier-Cason, FCT Writer
When you turn on your television to watch the Thanksgiving parade next Thursday, you might see some familiar faces.
Red Bay's junior and senior cheerleaders, along with Phil Campbell's senior cheerleaders, will travel to New York this week to participate in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Red Bay's cheerleaders will fly to New York Saturday, Nov. 18 and will return home Friday, Nov. 24.
Red Bay sends their juniors and seniors to participate in the parade, every other year.
Phil Campbell's cheerleaders will fly to New York Sunday, Nov. 19 and will return after the parade on Nov. 23, Nelda Moss, cheerleader sponsor, said.
Both groups will be performing dance routines in the event.
The parade will begin at 8 a.m. local time and should conclude around noon, according to the parade's website.
The famous parade made its debut in the 1920s when the majority of the Macy's employees were second-generation immigrants, and were proud of their American heritage.
They decided to celebrate that heritage in European parade fashion.
Over a quarter of a million people lined the streets of New York to witness the first Macy's parade.
Now, 80 years later, the parade has become a Thanksgiving Day icon.
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) began televising the parade in 1952 adding millions more viewers to the parade.
Today, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is a major tourist attraction for New York, according to About website.
Franklin County's cheerleaders are excited about the experience that is ahead of them.
However, there is one draw back to leaving Saturday for the Red Bay group.
"We will be missing the Alabama- Auburn football game, and that is a bummer," Paige Duncan, senior cheerleader at Red Bay, said.
In addition to the nine girls going to the Macy's parade, Red Bay will have two Junior High cheerleaders participating in Disney's Thanksgiving Day parade.
Ninth grader Alexis Mills and eighth grader Laken Elliott were selected for the All Star Cheerleading Team last summer, which enables them to participate in the Disney parade.
