LAKE ARIEL, WAYNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — While many get ready for Thanksgiving by prepping a feast, one local band director is getting her marching shoes ready.
Band director Elaine Ort assumes her everyday position behind the podium, conducting Western Wayne band students.
On Thanksgiving next week, she’ll be warming up and suiting up to perform in one of the country’s largest parades.
“We get this email from the Macy’s corporation that said, ‘We want you to come to the Big Apple and do the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in 2023.’”
This one-in-a-lifetime opportunity stems from Ort getting selected to join the National Band Directors Marching Band.
After walking in the world-famous rose parade in Pasadena last year, she’s now getting ready to hit the streets of New York.
Ort’s students, like Kalob Franco, say they’re honored to be taught by her.
“I honestly wasn’t surprised because she’s been an amazing musician for as long as I’ve seen her, she’s crazy at what she does.”
Ort says this performance will show her students you can achieve any dream – at any age.
“It’s something that I never thought I’d be able to do and now being a working musician and getting to live one of my lifelong dreams which is actually playing an instrument in New York as a professional, it means so much.”
Ort leaves for the Big Apple on Sunday to practice up until Thanksgiving.
Meanwhile, her students will receive extra credit if they find her on the big screen during the parade.
