courtesy of Steven P. Conley

After submitting an application, photos and a performance DVD, the mayor of New York City, The Honorable Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, along with the United War Veterans’ Council of Greater New York, invited the Clover Hill High School Marching Cavaliers to participate in the 90th Annual Veteran’s Day Parade in New York City.

The Clover Hill High School Marching Cavaliers performed in the 90th Annual New York City Veterans Day Parade honoring all of the men and women who have served in our Armed Forces on Nov. 11. The Marching Cavaliers marched down historic 5th Avenue performing a medley of This Is My Country, Stars and Stripes Forever and You’re A Grand Old Flag. Many parents and siblings of Clover Hill’s marching band joined the band to honor 25 of their own veterans by carrying poster sized images mounted on red, white or blue flag poles. While marching in the parade by St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Steve Conley, Clover Hill’s Band Director, witnessed a priest jump and exclaim, “I’m a Ritchie, too!” Reverend Monsignor Robert T. Ritchie is the rector of St. Patrick’s Cathedral and his enthusiastic shout out was in response to an image of Lt. James S. Ritchie, Jr., a WW II Veteran, father of Mrs. Lucia Tipton, Clover Hill’s bookkeeper. The Clover Hill Marching Cavaliers joined over 1,000 high school marching band members to form the NYC Veterans Day Parade of Pride Band performing Patriotic Anthems in Times Square directed by Dr. Ken Dye, Director of Bands at the University of Notre Dame on Nov. 10.

On their four-day performance tour to New York City the Clover Hill Marching Cavaliers visited Ground Zero, the Top of the Rock (Rockefeller Center), Central Park, the Lincoln Center, Chinatown, Federal Hall, Wall Street, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. They dined at Ellen’s Stardust Diner, Trump Tower’s Cafe, La Mela’s Restaurant in Little Italy, the Hard Rock Café, and BB King’s House of Blues. During breakfast at The House of Blues, students were inspired by a motivational speech from a NYC Fireman who risked his life saving others at Ground Zero. The students were thrilled to see The Phantom of the Opera and Wicked on Broadway, and on the evening after the parade they, with other high school students from across the country, danced the night away on a spectacular Circle Line Dinner/Dance Cruise around Manhattan.