BELLE FOURCHE—Six cheerleaders have been selected to travel to New York City in November to represent Belle Fourche in the Macy’s Day Parade. The prestigious Macy’s Day Parade is an annual tradition that began in 1924. It always takes place on Thanksgiving morning. This year it will be held on November 26 and is often considered the official start of the Christmas season.
Those going on the trip this year include Mollie Collins, Adelae Grusing, Aubrey Wilbur, Hope Sinkey, Chelsea Zinke and Lucila Merjil.
A few of the cheerleaders got to participate in the parade in 2024, the last time Belle Fourche was selected. “It’s the 100th anniversary of the Macy’s Day Parade,” explained Carie Merjil, cheer mom and chaperone. “A lot of them are going into their senior year—it’s their last chance. They got rained out pretty good last time, soaked to the bone—we’re hoping for some nice weather!”
Performers are invited to send in an audition application and video. “They have to do an audition video with a dance, a cheer and jumps, and then they send it in, and we wait,” explained Merjil. “…typically they do it as a group, one group, and then the group gets picked to go.”
Being selected to participate in the Macy’s Day Parade may be a great honor, but it also comes with a large price tag. All of the cheerleaders and their chaperones must raise around $4,000 per person to pay for the six-night, seven-day experience, plus airfare. From now until September 1, 2026, the Center of the Nation Cheerleaders will be hosting a variety of fundraisers.
The cheer team has had a few fundraisers at the Moose Lodge and has plans for many more. They are also selling Butter Braids. Merjil shared, “We are doing May 2—tip night at the Moose—all the Macy’s Day cheerleaders will be waitressing and all of the tips will go to them. July 18 we’re doing a Dart Tournament at the Cowboy with a dessert raffle and a bucket raffle and a dart tournament, and then many, many bake sales—we’ll do them down at Hometown Thursdays.”
This trip is a time to explore new locations and meet new friends from all over the country. Some of the scheduled sightseeing trips, according to the website, include attending the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular, seeing a Broadway show, visiting the Empire State Building, Times Square, the Statue of Liberty Harbor Cruise, shopping at Macy’s and other New York stores, ice skating at Rockefeller Center, visiting the 9/11 Memorial, and seeing Central Park.
“The kids, when we’re there, they practice at 6 a.m. and they practice four hours and then they get a little bit of fun time to go to Broadway shows or whatever and then they have to be back to practice from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.,” said Merjil. “They have eight hours plus of practice every single day for six days. The day of the Macy’s Day Parade we were up at 4:30 in the morning, curling hair—they are exhausted. They are having the time of their lives, but it is very intense!”
The efforts to raise money for the trip couldn’t be accomplished without the community supporting them along the way. Merjil expressed, “We appreciate the community support—they have been amazing and they continue to be amazing!”
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