Tune in to NBC at 9 o’clock on Thursday morning’s broadcast of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade to catch a minute and a half of fame for four cheerleaders from Gilcrest.
Look closely. There will be about 650 cheerleaders, all wearing the sunflower-yellow Macy’s parade uniform with its bright red star, so it will be a bit tough to pick out Luke O’Bryan, Marisa Lara, Kellie Matchett and Jade Moreno.
Tall, stocky Luke might be easiest to spot, especially if he hasn’t managed to rinse all the blue dye from his hair by then. (He needed blue hair for his role as an Elvis-esque Oberon in the high school’s recent production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”)
Marisa, Kellie and Jade will be among the sea of girls performing a pompom routine they’ve practiced since the team’s arrival in New York City last week. On Monday, they’ll all be in Herald Square for a run-through of their opening routine.
“It’s not a dress rehearsal, exactly, but they’ll all be here so we can do the camera blocking and everything so they’ll know what to expect on parade morning,” said Orlando Veras, spokesman for the event.
The congregation of cheerleaders on Herald Square will exceed by 100 the entire studentbody of Valley High School in Gilcrest, a small community on a windswept northeastern stretch of U.S. 85 between Fort Lupton and Greeley.
None of the four have been to New York City before. Marisa, who had never flown in a plane, couldn’t wait for her first takeoff. Jade was eager to go shopping. Kellie was so eager to go to Chinatown that she waved off suggestions that she might miss having a traditional Thanksgiving Day dinner.
“What? I want Chinese food!” she said.
