The River Ridge High School Marching Knights have been invited to perform in the largest New Year's Day parade in the world, in London, on January 1, 2016.

The former Lord Mayor of Westminster, Duncan Sandys, and Robert Bone, executive director of London's New Year's Day Parade, visited the school recently to extend the formal invitation to the band members. Lord Mayor Sandys, whose great-grandfather is the famous former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, presented River Ridge High School Principal Darrell Herring with a coat of arms from the City of Westminster, along with a pair of cufflinks. Band Director Gray received a crystal paperweight and cufflinks, and drum majors Mia Cellino and Leanza Baccala received commemorative pins. The school presented the London dignitaries with gift baskets of Georgia products such as peanuts and Coca-Cola, Service League of Cherokee County cookbooks, as well as River Ridge HS items.

The London New Year's Day Parade boasts more than 9,000 participants twice the size of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, held annually in New York. More than 640,000 people assembled along the parade route last year, while more than 300 million watched the parade on television. The 2016 parade will mark the parade's 30th anniversary. Students will be fundraising to cover the cost of the trip, which will include an educational tour of London.