High Ridge teenager Jace Long was one of just a handful of local students selected to play with the Bands of America Honor Band in the 2026 Rose Parade on Jan. 1 in Pasadena, Calif.
Long said he enjoyed the experience, even though it turned out to be far soggier than he anticipated.
The annual New Year’s Day event, which is nationally televised, took place during rainy conditions for the first time since 2006, according to published reports.
Long, 14, a freshman at Lafayette High School, played mellophone in the parade.
“It was a lot to deal with, for sure, because the first thing I noticed – even before any of my uniform got wet – was water in (the mellophone),” he said. “I’d have to take my horn down to empty the water. So, that definitely had an effect on it. And, also, my socks were soaked. My shako was absolutely soaked. Shakos are the hats we wear.”
The conditions were not what participants and spectators normally expect, Long noted.
“Yep, sunny California,” he said.
The Rose Parade travels a long route.
“The distance is 5.5 miles to get to ‘TV corner’ (an intersection along the route),” Long said. “The rest of it is just a straight shot. It was OK, though. I’m in good shape because I play hockey. It’s just physically demanding because you’re always moving the feet the entire two, two-and-a-half hours. I was either moving my feet or walking.”
Long took the trip to California with his mother and father, Becky and Jay Long, and younger brother, Grayson.
Despite the wet parade conditions, Long said the whole experience – traveling to California, rehearsing with the Bands of America Honor Band, playing in related events and performing in the parade – was like a dream.
“I was very, very excited leading up to it,” he said. “It kind of didn’t feel real when we left for it. We had to leave at 3 a.m. the day after Christmas to get to the airport. When we got on the plane, I sat down and looked over at my mom and I go, ‘Mom, you’ve been planning this for months. This isn’t actually happening now?’’’
According to its website, Music for All is a nonprofit group that promotes school ensemble performance and music advocacy, and the Bands of America Honor Band is one of its programs. The band members, approximately 300 of them, come from schools across the nation.
Students must apply and be selected to perform in the Bands of America Honor Band, Long said.
“It was an application process where I had to submit a resume and my teacher had to recommend me,” he said. “We found out in January (2025) that I was accepted to march in the band.”
Becky Long said the Bands of America Honor Band is a special collection of musicians.
“They kind of make an all-star group from all different schools,” she said.
Her son said the mellophone is sort of a combination of a French horn and a trumpet.
“It’s a marching French horn,” he said. “In a nutshell, it’s built like a trumpet with all the valves and the tubing that goes in. The main differences are it’s much shorter than a trumpet. It’s a lot more compact and not as long. I like to joke that there’s a dinner plate on the front, because the bell (opening) is very large.”
Long also plays the French horn, as well as electric bass guitar and trumpet.
“I play trumpet in (the Lafayette High) jazz band,” he said.
Long attends Lafayette High School because his father is a band teacher at Wildwood Middle School in the Rockwood School District. Becky Long is a music teacher at St. John School in Ellisville.
Jace Long said he spent the final two days of the trip sightseeing, with band members visiting Disneyland on Jan. 1 and Universal Studios on Jan. 2.