The Thanksgiving celebration started Friday for Willow School second graders who had their own style of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, complete with marching band.
Teachers Christen Vazquez and Lisa Wendt had their second grade students read the story of how the original giant balloons came to be and were added in the mid-1920s to the traditional New York parade hosted by Macy’s department store.
Then the second graders got to design their own characters for the Willow’s Day Parade marching through the hallway of Willow and out the door to the delight of parents and friends.
But what’s a Thanksgiving Day parade without a band? No problem, said music teacher Amelia Riedel who got children in the Willow School Band keeping time to a tune provided by members of the Homewood-Flossmoor High School Marching Band.
