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Macy's Parade Pumps Up Band

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By DIANE GREY

dgrey@tampatrib.com

Published: November 27, 2008

CLEARWATER - It's rare for a marching band to get a personal invitation to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Until last year, no band ever had.

Last spring, four Macy's executives traveled to St. Petersburg to deliver the news to the Greater St. Petersburg Area Awesome Original Second Time Arounders Marching Band. The announcement came the night of the Rounders' 25th-anniversary banquet.

Of the hundreds of applications that Macy's received, the Rounders were Macy's first selection for the holiday tradition's 82nd year. Not bad for their first attempt.

Not only is the band the largest in this year's parade, it is also one of the largest in the past 30 years - since Macy's has been keeping records, spokesman Orlando Veras said.

"This has been a journey for the whole year," said Donna Boerner, 44, a majorette.

On Tuesday, 512 musicians, honor guards, majorettes, flag bearers, banner carriers and riflemen, along with family and friends, boarded three chartered flights to Newark, N.J. The Rounders, an all-volunteer group, has members of ages 18 to 85 from all walks of life: doctors, lawyers, teachers, bank employees, clerks.

"We even have a funeral director," said mellophone player Doris Gibson, 58, of St Petersburg.

The Rounders performed in Ireland in 2001. They have been traveling since 1994, when they logged their first major trip, to Portland, Ore. Since then, they have marched in Orlando; San Antonio, Texas; and Savannah, Ga.

The Rounders will return to the Bay area Tuesday with plenty of memories, but they will leave something behind.

When the majorettes shed their outer garments before their performance today, the coats will be donated to the homeless through the New York School of Urban Ministry.

Researcher Diane Grey can be reached at (813) 259-7070. Watch the 82nd Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade from 9 a.m. to noon today on WFLA-TV.

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