(Photo Provided West Virginia) University Marching Band member and Parkersburg High School graduate Ethan Grose, second row, left, stands behind other parade participants with his bandmates during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The band was the lead band in front of Santa Claus at the end of the parade.

PARKERSBURG — A Parkersburg woman and a Parkersburg High School graduate and West Virginia University marching band member accomplished their dreams recently by participating in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

“I was on the Stuart (the Minion) balloon team,” West said the day after the parade. Stuart the Minion is from the “Despicable Me” movies.

“I absolutely loved every minute of it,” West said of being a balloon handler. “It was fantastic. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience.

She woke up at 4 a.m. on Thanksgiving and had a reporting time of 5:15 a.m., West said. The parade started at 8:30 a.m. and they walked for 2.5 hours for 2.5 miles, according to her.

West previously stated the Stuart the Minion balloon is 37 feet tall, 40 feet long and 28 feet wide. “It’s a lot of helium,” she said.

(Photo Provided) Victoria West, a Parkersburg resident who participated in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, poses with another parade participant. West was on the team for the Stuart the Minion balloon.

Being a balloon handler is something West has wanted to do for years. She said she owns a balloon business and “it’s a contagious joy.” She said she doesn’t know why someone wouldn’t want to be a balloon handler in the parade.

According to West’s LinkedIn page, she owns the Gift Gallery of Vienna and is a balloon stylist for Mountain State Creamery next door.

West previously said it wasn’t easy to become a balloon handler. She said it took seven years for her to get to be one. She would stop at Macy’s every time she was in New York to ask about being a handler. It finally happened this year because she found someone who was a handler in the past and they sponsored her. She said she applied in January and found out she would be a handler in August, had to attend one day of training in New Jersey in September and she had to gain 11 pounds to meet the minimum 130-pound weight requirement to be a handler.

West said she made some beautiful memories during the parade and she feels like she showed her children that if you want something you should chase your dreams.

“It was amazing,” she said.

West also said she thinks it is fun that members of the WVU band who are from Parkersburg and a Williamstown High School student also participated in the parade.

“Just the idea that so many people from our small state were at that 2.5-mile parade, I love that,” she said.

WVU students from Wood County, who are members of the WVU Marching Band, participated in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. These students included Parkersburg High School graduates Ethan Grose, trombone; James Campbell, trombone; Aaron Grose, trumpet; Brodi Wilson, trumpet; Joel Stephens, saxophone; Ethan Yetter, clarinet; Josiah Whisnant, tuba; and Cole McCormic, tuba; Parkersburg South graduates, Cate Evans, piccolo, and Caleb Rowan, tuba; and Williamstown High School graduates, Sadie Enoch, clarinet, and Adam Hatcher, mellophone, according to the mother of one of the band members, Jodi Nutter.

The band was the lead band in front of Santa Claus at the end of the parade.

Ethan Grose, who graduated from PHS in 2021 and is a senior at WVU, said the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was different from any other parade in which he has participated.

He said for most parades people line up about a half hour before the parade, while for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade they had a 3:30 a.m. rehearsal and then they lined up for the parade at 8:30 a.m.

“It was a very busy morning, but definitely worth it,” Grose said.

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is the biggest parade he’s ever been in, he said and getting to be in the parade was unbelievable.

“I don’t think I put two and two together about how many people would be there … all of a sudden there were tons of people …. and of course all the TV cameras,” Grose said.

A person can’t truly imagine all of the people at the parade if they weren’t there for it, he said.

“It was pretty cool” being the band that led Santa Claus, he said, though the band has led in Santa Claus before, when they were in high school.

“It was a pretty unique opportunity,” Grose said, adding the experience was “magical.”

The band found out they would be in the parade about a year ago and a lot of practice and preparation went into the parade, according to Grose.

It didn’t really hit Grose that he would be in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade until he got to New York, he said.

“I think it’s something I’d do again if I had the opportunity,” Grose said.

Attempts to contact the Williamstown High School student who participated in the parade, Gabe Maceira, were not returned as of press time.