Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade to Include Bridgewater Student

Loren Brungard, of Bridgwater, a member of the 2013 Marching Royal Dukes of James Madison University, will travel to New York City with the marching band to perform in the 87th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The band is slated to lead the parade when it kicks off at 9 a.m.

Brungard, a junior majoring in history, plays in the band's guard section. Brungard graduated from Immaculata High School.

The Marching Royal Dukes date to 1972 when JMU established a football program. Membership in the band is open to all JMU students, regardless of their academic majors. The 2013 band's members represent 47 academic majors, and more than 400 Marching Royal Dukes are non-music majors. The 485-member band is the largest in JMU's history.

The band performs at all home football games, travels to select away games and represents JMU at local and regional high-school exhibitions and community events.

The JMU band is one of 11 marching bands performing in the parade, and one of only two college bands, the other is the University of Massachusetts Amherst, that were invited to perform. The Marching Royal Dukes were selected from more than 150 applications sent to Macy's Parade's Committee. This is the band's third appearance in the parade. They previously performed in the 2001 and 2008 parades.