Huntsville High School Band invited to London for New Year's Day Parade

310052738 608993167558852 8126709319775549545 n — The Huntsville High School Band will participate in the New Year’s Day Parade in London in 2024. (Huntsville High School Band via Facebook)

Huntsville High School’s Marching Panther Band will find themselves ringing in the new year in 2024 across the Atlantic Ocean, as the band has been invited to participate in the New Year’s Parade in London for 2024.

The parade’s chairman, Bob Bone, came to Huntsville High School to extend the invitation in person. Here are some more details:

HHS Band chosen among thousands

310183205 608995744225261 3680079886232109965 n — Huntsville High School was chosen out of thousands of schools to participate in the New Year’s Day parade. (HHS Band via Facebook)

The Marching Panther Band was chosen out of thousands of other schools to participate in the parade, which sees more than 8,000 performers from all corners of the globe and entertains a street audience of around 500,000.

Bone praised the Marching Panther Band as “brilliant,” and added that the band has been on his radar for a few years now.

“We chose a Huntsville High School band to come because they are brilliant and how do we know they’re brilliant well we’ve got spies. They give us a list of names every year of schools colleges whose bands deserve invitation, and Huntsville has come out on top of that list for many many years running now.”
Parade chairman Bob Bone

310140605 608995707558598 6460716615738402590 n — London New Year’s Day Parade executives Bob Bone and Steve Summers came to Huntsville High School to extend the invitation to the band. (HHS Band via Facebook)

A worldwide audience

310066244 608994947558674 2939367919679634708 n — About half a million people will be on hand to see the Marching Panther Band, plus a global TV audience. (HHS Band via Facebook)

The Huntsville High School Marching Panther band will not only be introduced to the people of London, but a worldwide TV audience will get to see them play the parade.

The 2024 event will be one of the biggest in the event’s 40+ year history and will be screened worldwide including the USA on the PBS Network. The global audience is expected to be tens of millions.

The director of the Huntsville High School band is Stuart Tankesley, and the assistant director is Holly Connell. Percussion is led by Stephen Lomax and color guard is led by Logan Whitten and Sara Brick.

Want more info and updates on what’s happening in and around Huntsville? Follow us on Facebook, TikTok and Instagram, and be sure to subscribe to our newsletter.