This year’s Spirit of American cheer team at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will feature seven members of the Belle Fourche cheer team.
Amiyah Gomez, Selene Walker, Chelsea Zinke, Julie Swanson, Aubrey Wilbur, Lucila Merjil, and Hunter Brown are the individuals who were selected after an audition process to join this year’s squad.
Nationwide, Spirit of America selects 600 kids to participate at the parade in New York.
“I would say it's a pretty big deal because Belle Fourche really has rallied behind the kids. This is our third year sending cheerleaders from Belle Fourche. We started out with three our first year and then only one of them went last year and so this is our largest group that is gone, but the community is very supportive,” said Belle Fourche cheer and dance coach Michaela Horn. “The school has wished them well. We have an organization called ‘Spirit of cheer and dance’ here in Belle Fourche that is run by some active board members and parents and so they have helped with all the fundraising and yeah, they have really rallied behind them and made it a possibility to get their make their dreams come true.”
Like most of these national groups, there’s an audition process. From there, members are selected. But the work doesn’t stop there, once the kids get to New York, there are also some long days of rehearsing in the days leading up to the parade. Each participant is also allowed to bring one of their parents along.
“Their hotel is right on the main drag where the parade will pass through, so their parents can sit and watch the parade there,” explained Horn. “They will be in rehearsals for the majority of the days. They have very long rehearsal days. A couple of them being about eight-hour days.”
It’s not all work, however, as the kids are still granted some time to be kids and take in some of the tourist hot spots.
“They do have chaperones that they have and they get divided into groups, and they get to tour the city as well so they get to go see the Statue of Liberty. They get to see the Rockettes holiday performance. They get to see a Broadway show, Times Square, Central Park, and do a couple of group activities,” Horn stated. “They can do that with their parents, or they can stay with their chaperone and do that with the friends that they make there.”
Belle Fourche’s cheer team made history at the state cheer and dance competition in Rapid City this October by being the first cheer team to compete in the newly created co-ed division.
One of the male members, Hunter Brown, is one of the seven who will perform during Thursday’s parade.
Coach Horn mentioned how cheer and dance is a growing sport in Belle Fourche.
“I'm extremely proud. I know our assistant coach Lacey Doyle is extremely proud. Our parents are very proud of us and we get a ton of support that comes through from our school and community. It is a growing sport. It's still growing,” Horn told. “I will say, this is my sixth year as the cheer coach, and even in the six years we’ve had, we are getting younger kids, seventh and eighth grade, on our competitive team. We've had large numbers at our tryout, so it's growing. It's growing in a positive way, so that's lovely to see.”
Going to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade can add up on the financial end. To help with the costs, the seven kids did fundraise, found sponsorships from local business, and even did a car wash to help raise funds.
“The community has really rallied behind them and given them opportunities, but they worked hard for it too,” said Horn.
The 98th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will begin at 8:30 am CT on NBC and stream live on Peacock as well.
Sioux Falls Lincoln’s marching band will also be part of this year’s parade in New York.
