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<\/p>\nThree Lackawanna County natives will usher in the new year marching together.<\/p>\n
Old Forge resident Elaine Ort, the band director at Western Wayne High School, will march in the 137th Rose Parade for the second time with Saluting America\u2019s Band Directors, a project of the Michael D. Sewell Memorial Foundation that aims to recognize the accomplishments of band directors around North America.<\/p>\n
At the 2026 Rose Parade, she will be joined by two former students \u2014 Dunmore resident Ryan Kozich, band director at Wallenpaupack Area Middle School, and Andrew Gallagher, a Taylor native who now lives in Hagerstown, Maryland, and is a band director at South Hagerstown High School.\n<\/p>\n
They will be among 350 band directors from the United States, Canada, Mexico and Panama who will march in the 5\u00bd-mile-long parade that steps off in Pasadena, California, on Jan. 1. They are marching with the theme \u201cAmerica\u2019s Band Directors: We teach music. We teach life,\u201d with an accompanying float, and led by Jon Waters, director of bands at Bowling Green State University.\n<\/p>\n
Ort first marched in the Rose Parade in 2022, the first year the group participated. The following year, she marched with the group in the Macy\u2019s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York, joined by Clarks Summit resident Vincent Lorusso, the band director at Blue Ridge High School.\n<\/p>\n
Seeing their teacher perform in the Thanksgiving parade inspired Kozich and Gallagher to apply to march themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s when I decided whenever the next opportunity arrived, that was when I was going to commit and audition,\u201d Kozich said.<\/p>\n
Kozich and Gallagher, who will both be going to California for the first time, said the application was simple and they were elated when they learned they were selected.<\/p>\n
Kozich, who will be playing trombone, said he is both excited and terrified about the opportunity to perform in a parade that airs all around the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really cool and scary,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Gallagher, who will play the mellophone, knew he wanted to march with other band directors when he took his current position three years ago. He said he had a similar feeling to one he had in the fall of 2015 when he learned he would be marching in the Macy\u2019s Thanksgiving Day Parade with the Incomparable Golden Rams Marching Band at West Chester University his freshman year.<\/p>\n
Gallagher said the experience is one he is looking forward to but nervous about. With the exception of a few local parades, he hasn\u2019t performed in a large parade since 2015.<\/p>\n
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Andrew Gallagher poses in his uniform and with his mellophone that he will march in the Rose Parade in. Gallagher is one of three Lackawanna County natives that will be marching in the 2026 parade. (Submitted)\n<\/p>\n
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Dunmore resident Ryan Kozich, the band director at Wallenpaupack Area Middle School, poses with his trumpet and attire he will wear when he marches in the Rose Parade as part of Saluting America\u2019s Band Directors. He will march in the parade for the first time. (Submitted)\n<\/p>\n
![\"Old](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/STT-L-ROSEPARADE-03-rotated-1.jpg?w=620\")
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Old Forge resident Elaine Ort, the band director at Western Wayne High School, poses for a photo during her first appearance in the Rose Parade as part of Saluting America\u2019s Band Directors in 2022. (Submitted)\n<\/p>\n
![\"Western](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/STT-L-ROSEPARADE-02-rotated-1.jpg?w=620\")
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Western Wayne High School band director Elaine Ort poses with Blue Ridge High School band director Vincent Lorusso when they marched in the Macy\u2019s Thanksgiving Day Parade as part of Saluting America\u2019s Band Directors. (Submitted)\n<\/p>\n
![\"Andrew](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/STT-L-ROSEPARADE-05.jpg?w=620\")
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Andrew Gallagher plays with the Incomparable Golden Rams marching band at West Chester University. (Submitted)\n<\/p>\n
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Andrew Gallagher poses in his uniform and with his mellophone that he will march in the Rose Parade in. Gallagher is one of three Lackawanna County natives that will be marching in the 2026 parade. (Submitted)\n<\/p>\n