For the first year, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will include the Band Directors Marching Band. This year’s parade — held in New York City on Nov. 23 — will feature a familiar face from Newton County: D. Alan Fowler. 

“The Macy’s Parade is an amazing holiday tradition and it will be amazing to get to be a part of it,” Fowler said in a press release. 

Fowler’s daughter, Katie Beth, marched in the Macy’s Parade back in 2016. 

Fowler, the former director of bands at Eastside High School and current executive director of the Georgia Music Educators Association, has been selected to join a marching band of 400 band directors via the Saluting America’s Band Directors project. 

“The Saluting America’s Band Directors parade entry will again convey its theme, “America’s band directors: We teach music. We teach life.” to recognize the extraordinary dedication and accomplishments of band directors and music educators everywhere,” a press release said. “Throughout their careers, the music educators in this band have collectively mentored and taught hundreds of thousands of students. These professionals not only teach and direct music, they teach about life itself.” 

The band will be directed by nationally known music educator and innovative band director Jon Waters. The sponsoring organization behind the Saluting America’s Band Directors project is the Michael D. Sewell Memorial Foundation, based in Pickerington, Ohio. The foundation was created to recognize and carry on the work of the late Mike Sewell, who dedicated his life to the school and community music programs in Pickerington and the Central Ohio area for almost 40 years.