CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Representatives from the London New Year’s Day Parade made the trip across the pond to Charlottesville on Monday to personally invite the Charlottesville High School Marching Band to perform in the 2028 parade.
The annual event, which began in 1987, features more than 8,000 performers from around the world every year and is attended by 500,000 spectators. This will mark the second time the CHS Marching Band has performed in the event, as the Black Knights first appeared in the 2018 event.
“This is my favorite event that we’ll get to do,” Director of Bands Jason Hackworth said afterward. “And the chance to take some of our students outside of Charlottesville, outside of Virginia, really outside of the country to see something that they might not ever get a chance to see really means a lot to me and giving them that opportunity is really great.”
Along with the official invitation, the delegation from the parade, which included its Chariman and founder Bob Bone, as well as Deputy Lieutenant for Greater London Steve Summers, spoke with the students about the event and week-long trip, and presented a number of gifts to the band and school.
Bone said afterward it was important to the organizers to physically meet the performers for each year’s event and get to know them.
“We like to have a connection with everybody before we embark on this great adventure with them,” he said. “After all, it takes a lot of preparation. We’re asking a lot of these kids to work very, very hard to raise money to be able to come. Lots of practice. I mean, it’s hard work. Not just for the band directors, either. It’s hard work for the kids themselves.”
American marching bands have become a mainstay in the parade over the years, as Bone said audience research every year shows they are the audience’s favorite part of the event. Bone also said CHS specifically was invited back due to their history with the parade.
“They were terrific,” he said of the band’s performance in 2018. “You know, (the) crowds really, really love them.”
This will be the band’s third recent international trip and first since it performed at the Rome New Year’s Day parade in 2024. Senior Davis Naegly was on that trip as a freshman and has fond memories from his experience.
“It was a lot of fun because we got to do a lot of team-building, community-building and hanging out with friends and (going to) places and doing things that we wouldn’t have done in Charlottesville,” he said.
While Naegly will be graduating before the band goes to London, junior Nora Erkelens will have the opportunity to go on this upcoming international trip and expressed her excitement about the opportunity.
“We’ve gone on school trips before just around the country, and that’s just been a great opportunity, because I’ve been with my best friends and gotten to play music,” she said. “And now, being able to do this, especially after how much London has been hyped up by the (parade representatives), it’s gonna be fantastic to just be with all the people I love doing what I love.”
But as Bone said, sending the band to London will not be an easy feat. Hackworth said the band’s booster organization puts in a lot of effort into fundraising, and those efforts will help ensure every band member has the opportunity to go.
“It’s not an inexpensive trip,” he said. “And so we really lean a lot on the boosters to help make that possible, and they really do an amazing job reaching out to the community and to find community partners and people that want to sponsor the program and sponsor students to make sure that, again, every child that wants to go can go on this trip.”
Hackworth said those looking to support the boosters can donate or contact the organization directly through the band program’s website.
