CEDAR FALLS – Victoria Chargo, a senior member of the Panther Marching Band at the University of Northern Iowa and a Jefferson-Scranton graduate, will appear in London’s 2015 New Year’s Day parade. Chargo is a music education major and is a mellophone section leader in the band.
The Panther Marching Band (PMB) will perform in the parade with more than 200 UNI students marching, led by Dr. Danny Galyen. The band will perform favorite tunes such as “Fireball” and “Wild Wild Love” by Pitbull, “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, and “Problem” by Ariana Grande. The Panther Marching Band departs Dec. 28 and will stay seven days in London. They will visit sites including Hampton Court, Tower of London, Stonehenge, Bath, and others.
London’s New Year’s Day Parade is supported by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and boasts a list of active patrons and supporters including the Lord Lieutenant of Greater London, The Prime Minister of Great Britain and the Lord Mayor of the City of Westminster. The New Year’s Day Parade is the largest event of its kind on the world with more than 8000 participants performing for a street audience of well over half a million people and a worldwide television audience approaching 300 million. The parade has twice as many participants as Macy’s New York City Thankgiving Day parade.
This is the first trip abroad for the PMB. Students learned of the invitation to perform last April and have been fundraising for the trip since then. Each student has paid his or her own travel expenses.
IPTV will be air the parade. 
