APPLETON, Wis. (WFRV) – The Family who runs the Heid Music store has been asked to be the Grand Marshal for the 52nd annual Downtown Appleton Christmas Parade on November 21.

“A lot of our family members have just tried to be as much involved with downtown Appleton as possible,” said Todd Heid, CEO of Heid Music. “We’ve been a big part of the Fox Valley Symphony for a long time and very involved with the Appleton Area School District, and work a lot with the local charities which my wife Dede does a lot with.”

The store has a long history of showing support for the community and vice versa. Being in the heart of Appleton since 1948, the Heid Family has provided music to the community for decades and now they can continue showing their love and support of the city as Grand Marshal.

“My whole life has been the Appleton Christmas Parade so it’s a big tradition for our family for 75 years since 1948 so we’ve actually been around longer than the Christmas Parade which is kind of cool,” said Todd. “But it’s just something that we’ve always made a big deal of, it’s our employees, our customers, it’s just always fun to see all of the bands come through.”

This year’s theme of the largest nighttime Parade in the Midwest is “The Music and Magic of Christmas.” Dede Heid told Local Five’s Samantha Petters the family feels honored to be a part of such a monumental community tradition and hopes everyone watching remembers to cherish their family, their friends, and their community because she believes that is what Christmas is all about.

“We’re super grateful that we get to be a part of it and that they are weaving music into the fabric of the whole theme of the parade,” said Dede Heid, President of Heid Music. “And for us, music is our business, but it really is the livelihood of a community and can bring people such joy.”

The Christmas Parade will start at 7 p.m. so if you are not able to attend in person, be sure to tune in on Local 5 or watch right here on our website.