The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will return to form for its 95th year and will include more than 100 jump rope athletes from across the country – including a few of Bowling Green’s own.

Jumpin’ Jaguar athletes Rachel Yarano, a graduate of South Warren High School; Zoe McNeily, a Greenwood High School graduate; and Maggie Shirley, a junior at Greenwood High School, will join in the pageantry in New York City on Nov. 25.

Alongside giant character balloons, celebrities, parade floats, marching bands and other performers, the local athletes will appear under the acronym J.U.M.P. or Jumpers United for Macy’s Parade. The occasion will mark McNeily’s and Shirley’s first time in the parade, though for Yarano, it’s her second time experiencing the festive foray into the holiday season.

This will be a return to the traditional parade route through Manhattan, after last year’s virtual parade that kept its record intact during the pandemic.

Viewers can tune in to watch their performance during a one-minute segment broadcast on NBC, which is estimated to draw about 50 million viewers this year.

The carefully choreographed routine – built around the 112 athletes performing an inter-connected, Double Dutch matrix flanked on both sides by a single-rope routine – will include national and world jump rope champions.

This group traveled to Cleveland to practice over the Labor Day weekend, where they spent two days in rehearsals to sync-up their movements.

Their routine is only the finale of their fitness feat, however, because the athletes will be jumping pretty much the entire three-mile parade route.

As the kickoff to the holiday season, the broadcast goes live at 8 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day.