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A longtime distinguished on-air news personality and a football player-turned radio analyst will each have a special role in this year’s America’s Thanksgiving Parade® presented by Gardner White.
Parade promoters last week announced Lomas Brown and Huel Perkins will serve as this year’s grand marshals of the procession, scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 23.
Tony Michaels, president and CEO of The Parade Company, said the role of the grand marshals is about “commitment to our wonderful city and giving back to make Detroit a better place.”
Michaels said he could not think of two individuals who better exemplify those ideals.
“Both of these icons have been tireless supporters of Detroit and we are thrilled they will be leading the festivities down Woodward on Thanksgiving morning,” Michaels said in a statement.
Parade Company also announced this year’s theme theme, “A Heart of History.”
Lomas Brown is employed as a color analyst for the Detroit Lions radio broadcast as well as a commentator and analyst for ESPN.
He is known as an All-Pro offensive lineman who played 18 years in the NFL including 11 seasons with the Detroit Lions and was a Super Bowl champion from his time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2002.
The Lions selected Brown as a first-round draft pick in the 1985 NFL Draft. After 11 seasons in the Motor City, he went to play for the Arizona Cardinals, Cleveland Browns, New York Giants and Tampa Bay.
Already a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, he also will be inducted this year into the Detroit Lions hall of fame, the Pride of the Lions. He is also known for his charitable work Detroit and an active philanthropist through his Lomas Brown Jr. Foundation which provides post-secondary scholarships and financial aid to college-bound students.
Huel Perkins is an Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist and news anchor who spent 33 years at WJBK Fox 2 in Detroit, 25 of those years teamed up with Monica Gayle as prominent co-anchors for the station in the evening news time slot, and the “Let it Rip!” talk show.
Perkins retired in 2022.
America’s Thanksgiving Parade featured on WDIV Local 4, including a one-hour syndicated national broadcast reaching more than 185 markets across the country. WJR-AM (760) Audacy WOMC-FM (104.3) also broadcast parade shows.
The parade roster typically includes several marching bands from Macomb County, most notably the Big Reds from Chippewa Valley High School, Cousino Patriots from Cousino High School in Warren and Dakota High School Marching Band from Macomb.
Michaels said the grand marshals notice was the first of several announcements to be made by The Parade Company in the weeks to come.
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