Mid American Pompon All Stars Celebrates 25 Years in Thanksgiving Day Parade

The Mid American Pompon All Star team will perform in America’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for its 25th consecutive year.

Created in 1986 with only 40 members, the prestigious All Star team has grown to more than 200 performers from high schools throughout Michigan. Each year, they perform at several events around the country. During the parade, the team will open national coverage with an original pompon routine performed to . The team will also present an additional routine while on the route.

The All Star Team performers are known for their creative choreography, which involves sharp, precise and unified moves, showmanship and spectacular kicklines. During the parade, they will perform their routine up to 40 times, dressed in uniforms that are red, silver, blue and black, with metallic pompons.

To be eligible for the Mid American Pompon All Star team, girls must be a member of a high school varsity pompon or dance team. Each year, team members are selected based upon their outstanding showmanship, academic stature and pompon/dance performing abilities. Auditions take place at Mid American summer camps.

The girls, who perform three or four times each year, have appeared at Presidential Inaugural Parades for President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush; the Fiesta Bowl and Citrus Bowl Parades; the 2007 Motor City Bowl at Ford Field in Detroit; the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta; Sea World of Ohio; Detroit Pistons basketball and Detroit Ignition soccer games; Epcot Center and on Carnival Cruise Lines.

The All Star Team has been invited to perform in the Cultural Olympiad, Big Dance 2012, which will take place before the July opening of the Olympic Games in London. Dancers and choreographers from around the world will unite for a celebration of dance in all of its forms.

Established in 1979 by owner Karen Blazaitis, Mid American Pompon is based out of in Farmington Hills, which offers expertise instruction in fitness, dance and pom for children and adults. For more information, visit pompon.com.

America’s Thanksgiving Parade begins Thursday, Nov. 24, at 9:20 a.m. on Woodward Avenue and Mack Avenue, and it will conclude at Woodward Avenue and Congress in downtown Detroit. The parade will be broadcast live on WDIV-TV Channel 4 and on WJR 760 AM.