Northgate band director marches in Macy's

&emsp;&emsp;When the Big Apple — New York City — goes all out to celebrate a season, it really does go all out, Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve being at the top of the list.&emsp;&emsp;Northgate band director Jessica Haberman was fortunate enough to be a marching member of Macy's 97th Annual Thanksgiving Day Parade held on Nov. 23, joining 400 other band directors from across the country in an experience that will forever remain among her top musical memories.&emsp;&emsp;Members of the band had a 3 a.m. rehearsal, which Haberman had not expected, but enjoyed. "The echos of the sounds of the warm-up on the side streets, to the bright lights in front of Macy's..."&emsp;&emsp;She recalls that the pre-dawn rehearsal kicked off the event that found the directors resembling "...high school students, taking videos and pictures of every moment because it was SO COOL! We might have been in front of Macy's only for 10 minutes, and they might have been 10 crazy minutes, but they were 10 minutes I will always remember."&emsp;&emsp;And then there was the joy of the parade.&emsp;&emsp;"The energy from the crowd of the parade was insane. There were some spots where the crowd was 15 to 20 rows back! I have never seen anything like that. And they were cheering for everything we did. It was so fun to play and perform for everyone."&emsp;&emsp;Haberman readily admits that being up for 19.5 hours on Thanksgiving was "... beyond exhausting, but I would do it again in a heartbeat. If given another opportunity I would perform with this group every chance I could." &emsp;&emsp;