The Lebanon Valley College Pride of The Valley Marching Band was invited to perform in London’s New Year’s Day Parade & Festival at the turn of 2022–2023. Their initial invite to perform at the 2021 event was canceled due to the pandemic.

Bob Bone, co-founder and executive director of the event, and Duncan Sandys, festival ambassador, visited campus on Thursday, Dec. 2, to extend the invitation in-person to students and Dr. Chris Heffner, LVC associate professor of music and director of The Pride of The Valley.

“The Pride of The Valley is honored to be invited to the 2023 London New Year’s Day Parade,” said Heffner. “This has been several years in the making, and we are excited to proceed with this trip. I extend an invitation to all Pride of The Valley alumni to come and join us for this historic event.”

The Pride of The Valley members will have a life-changing week in the historic city performing in the parade and immersing in a full educational program, visiting museums, historic sites, and places of architectural and artistic interest.

“We are very fortunate for the opportunity to perform in this event,” said Kristen Suruskie ’22, a music and music education double major and one of the drum majors this year.

“I look forward to sharing my love of music with everyone participating and watching the parade. I have never been to London and am excited to perform,” added Suruskie, who will perform as an alumna.

The 2023 parade will be one of the biggest and best in the event’s history and will be screened live across the world, including in the USA on the PBS Network. The parade welcomes more than 8,000 performers from all corners of the globe, entertaining a street audience of around 500,000—and a global TV audience of tens of millions.