Bahamians encouraged to tune in on Thursday, November 27

New York, NY - The Bahamas All-Star Marching Band is taking its energetic routine and the sweet sounds of Bahamian music to the heart of New York City this Thursday for the 2014 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The group of about 120 young musicians and dancers arrived in New Jersey Tuesday afternoon to make final preparations for their historic performance.

This is the first time in the parade's 88 years that an international marching band has been selected to participate.

The Bahamian band is fourth on the prestigious lineup, joining the top marching bands in the United States, theatre performers, elaborate floats, and famous balloons.

According to assistant band director Luke Caley, the performance will be full of surprises, and one that fans do not want to miss.

“We added a little flair to some of our most popular routines. We have something different for our fans, including new uniforms, and you may not even recognize us when we come out fourth on Thursday morning” said an excited Caley.

“It speaks volumes that a band from a small country like The Bahamas was chosen as the first international group to participate in a big parade like this one.”

The parade will be broadcast live on NBC between 9am and 12pm on Thursday, November 27th. It will also be streamed online at NBC.com.

Bahamians everywhere are encouraged to tune in and support the Bahamas All-Stars as they make history, and put The Islands of The Bahamas on the map.

More than 3.5 million people are expected to line up along the parade route to view the famous thanksgiving day parade live, and more than 50 million viewers watch on television and internet each year.

Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, Daniel Johnson said having the Bahamas All-Star band perform at this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade is an amazing opportunity for cultural tourism.

"The tourism products that we’re embarking on are sports tourism and in this case cultural tourism. We want to be the number one destination for cultural tourism in this hemisphere. So getting on the world stage at an event like this is enormous," Minister Johnson said.

“We know that this event puts The Bahamas center-stage, live for the largest audience during one of the biggest shopping and travel weeks of the year. We are nearly 150 strong, horns blazing, Bahamian music being played for the whole world to enjoy.”