Battle Ground High School band director Greg McKelvey believes being named the grand marshal of the 2024 Grand Floral Parade in Portland is “one of the greatest moments” of his teaching career.
On Wednesday, May 29, delegates from the Portland Rose Festival visited Battle Ground High School to announce McKelvey as the 2024 grand marshal.
McKelvey began his teaching career in 1977 and took on the job as band director in the once-rural community of Battle Ground in 1996. He is set to retire after this school year with the Battle Ground Harvest Days Parade slated to be his last appearance as the Tigers band director.
“I have the pleasure to make an exciting announcement about someone who has been important to the Battle Ground community for decades and has been important to the Rose Festival for even longer,” Rose Festival Board President Contesa Diaz-Nicolaidis said as she named McKelvey the 2024 grand marshal. “... Greg McKelvey is a Rose Festival legend, maybe the most prolific high school band director to participate in Rose Festival events.”
McKelvey joked on stage that he thought the surprising honor was initially a prank phone call. But, McKelvey will be riding in style in a convertible for this year’s Grand Floral Parade, and the band director is looking forward to not having to walk the entire route.
“The Grand Floral Parade used to go all the way downtown, so, by the end of the parade, you’re exhausted,” McKelvey said. “At least I was, and, you know, the older I got, the more exhausting it came. But, to ride in a convertible and not have to walk with the kids, I like that.”
Logistically, the band will be right behind him, and he added he will still see if they’re “messing up.” But McKelvey ensured they will not as the band has been a staple in the Portland parade for decades and has been preparing for the occasion all year.
Battle Ground High School performs in the parade each year. It also has received multiple out-of-state award grabs; last year, the advanced jazz band under McKelvey brought home a first-place finish at the Basically Basie Jazz Heritage Competition in Kansas City.
Despite his massive number of career awards as a band director, McKelvey believes this honor is one of the greatest in his career, but his goal has always been about the students.
“My goal has always been to have students be successful, and I feel like when they’re successful, I’m successful,” McKelvey said at the announcement ceremony, Wednesday, May 29. “So, I’ve never sought out any type of award. … My goal is just to teach, and, to be honest with you, I enjoy what I do. So, I really don’t consider it a job.”
Prior to the official presentation, his marching band performed in the Battle Ground High School rotunda, giving a sneak peek at what is in store for paradegoers.
“One of the things that I like that we do is that we play continuously,” he said. “Some bands will play periodically, but I feel like when people are camping out at 1 in the morning to get a spot in the parade, the least you can do is play as much as you can.”
McKelvey said he will have a lot of friends along the parade route, but those interested in joining the celebration who can’t make it to the Grand Floral Parade in Portland can attend his retirement party at 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., Wednesday, June 12, at the Chief Umtuch Middle School cafeteria in Battle Ground.
The Grand Floral Parade is planned for 10 a.m., Saturday, June 8, in Portland. Visit rosefestival.org/events/2024/grand-floral-parade2 for more information, including a route map.
