Left to right: Rosemount High School Marching Band members Anna Loughridge, Sam Swenson, Ella Goeldner and Sammy Ramaker -- all sophomores -- react to the announcement Tuesday, April 12, 2016, that the band has been selected to march in the 2017 Marcy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York. (Pioneer Press: Andy Rathbun)

Members of the Rosemount High School Marching Band celebrate with confetti, Tuesday, April 12, 2016, after learning that the band is one of 10 selected to march in the 2017 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. (Pioneer Press: Andy Rathbun)

Wesley Whatley, creative director for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, tells members of the marching band at Rosemount High School on Tuesday, April 12, 2016, they have been selected as one of 10 marching bands to perform in the 2017 parade. (Pioneer Press: Andy Rathbun)

Band directors for the Rosemount High School Marching Band -- Leon Sieve, Ben Harloff and Bo Hoover (left to right) -- receive a drum head following the announcement Tuesday, April 12, 2016, that their band has been selected to perform in the 2017 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. (Pioneer Press: Andy Rathbun)

Gov. Mark Dayton speaks Tuesday, April 12, 2016, following an announcement that the Rosemount High School Marching Band has been selected to perform in the 2017 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. (Pioneer Press: Andy Rathbun)



Members of the Rosemount High School Marching Band shoot confetti in the air Tuesday, April 12, 2016, after learning that the band is one of 10 selected to march in the 2017 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. (Pioneer Press: Andy Rathbun)

It was a secret that, when eventually let out, drew gasps and loud cheers from the Rosemount High School marching band.

On Tuesday afternoon, the more than 220 marching band members were told they have been invited to perform in the 2017 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City.



Their selection was kept under wraps until an announcement by parade officials in the school’s performing arts center, an occasion attended by a number of local and state elected officials, including Gov. Mark Dayton.

“It’s our opinion that Rosemount High School is one of the finest marching bands in the country,” Wesley Whatley, Thanksgiving Day parade creative director, told the crowd.

Rosemount will be the first Minnesota band to perform in the parade since Forest Lake High School in 1989. It was one of 10 bands chosen from nearly 200 applicants.

The annual holiday spectacle also features a variety of other performers, floats and giant character balloons.

Kim Budde, Rosemount High’s assistant principal and arts and activities director, said only a few school employees were aware of the news.

The band students were led to believe they were gathering to shoot a promotional video for Tim Lautzenheiser, a well-known national music teacher, author and consultant who was at the school Tuesday.

As the students settled into auditorium seats, some wondered aloud what exactly was going on.

“Why is this being televised?” one student asked after seeing TV news cameras.

About three weeks ago, Whatley called Ben Harloff, one of the school’s three band directors, with the good news.

“He said, ‘We need to keep this a secret,’ ” Harloff said.

That, said assistant principal Budde, was a “challenge and a half.”

“It was especially hard when we heard the governor planned to be here,” she said, adding that Dayton was invited by State Sen. Greg Clausen, DFL-Apple Valley, a former Rosemount High principal. “We had to work out a lot of pieces.”

Dayton praised the band’s accomplishments before proclaiming Tuesday “Irish Marching Band Day” in Minnesota.

The band has been a state dynasty. It won nine straight Youth In Music Marching Band Championships — Minnesota’s equivalent of a state tournament championship — before losing the title to Eden Prairie High School last fall.

Whatley drew loud applause from the students after telling them the Thanksgiving Day Parade attracts more than 3.5 million spectators and 50 million TV viewers.

“We are so honored to give you guys that platform and to shine a bright spotlight on the exceptional product that you guys put out every year,” he said. “So, congratulations.”

This won’t be the first time the school’s marching band has been on a national TV stage. In 2014, the band performed at the 125th Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif.

Junior Isabel Edgar, a drum major, said she felt “overwhelming emotions” from Tuesday’s announcement. Although she felt “bummed” she won’t be performing at the 2017 parade, she said she’s happy for her sister, Colette, a 15-year-old sophomore who plays trumpet in the band.

“I will get a flight and see her,” Isabel said.

Adam Shew, a junior who plays tenor saxophone, said playing in the parade is “the equivalent to an NFL team going to the Super Bowl. This is the highest honor for a high school band program to receive.”

The Rosemount band will spend the next 18 months planning for the parade appearance, with rehearsals and fundraising events, Budde said.