Passport Requirement

All tour participants must have a valid USA passport for this trip. In order to insure that you have a passport for this trip, please apply as soon as possible. We will be asking tour participants to provide a photocopy of their passport in August.

As of April 2022, routine service can take up to 11 weeks from the day an application is submitted to the day a new passport is received. 

Passports must be valid for 6 months past our return date of January 3, 2023.  That means that the expiration date of the passport must be no earlier than July 3, 2023. If you are unsure of your passport expiration date, please take a moment to double-check it. 

Please read THIS ARTICLE from the US Government that covers passport applications questions. 

Passport Acquisition:

Downers Grove Post Office [Click HERE to schedule appointment.]

Downers Grove Township [Call for appointments at 630-719-6610.]

Additional Passport Information Resources:

USPS Passport Application: https://www.usps.com/international/passports.htm

DuPage County Passport Application: https://www.dupageco.org/courtclerk/3364/

Passport Operations: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports.html

You've Got Questions. We've Got Answers

As our office receives questions regarding the tour, we will post them here (and respond) if we believe the information shared will be helpful to others.

tinyurl.com/DGNLondonQ-A

Tour Registration Instructions

We are pleased to share the London Tour Registration Instructions, HERE. 

As noted in the linked document, your family should receive an account activation email from Destination Events. Please read through our instructions document carefully before responding to the activation email or making the initial $100 deposit. If you do not receive an activation email, please follow the instructions provided on the linked document.

Tour Status Update - January 14, 2022

The pre-registration numbers for the London Tour were very strong, and indicate interest on the part of the community to move forward with tour planning! As of January 9, nearly 200 individual students expressed an interest in the tour, including a Tour Choir of 80 singers, and a Marching Band of 120 members. Our faculty is confident that well-balanced performing ensembles are possible with these numbers.

What's Next?

District 99 is in communication with the event organizers, and also working to solidify the arrangements for Cancel for Any Reason (CFAR) insurance. We hoped to have a contract finalized & signed today, but there are still a few language details being negotiated. Presuming all parties come to an agreement on terms, families who expressed an interest in the tour through the Pre-Registration form will receive additional information about how to pay the first deposit and formally sign-up for the tour. We hope this will happen within a week's time.

What if you did not Pre-Register, but now that you know the tour is moving forward you would like to join? 

If you did not originally fill out the Pre-Registration Google form, but would now like to have your name added to the list of families that will receive the formal registration instructions, please fill out the pre-registration form now! 

Fan/Tag-Along Group

There was strong initial interest in the Fan/Tag-Along plackage. We will begin to develop that tour as well, and will reach back to interested families as soon as we have more information to share. If you are now interested in adding your name to that list of interested persons, please fill out this form.

Congratulations, again, to our students for garnering these prestigious performance invitations!

Family Tag Along Tour Interest?

If your family is interested in learning more information about a Family Tag Along tour, please express that interest by filling out THIS FORM before January 9, 2022. This is a non-binding interest form.

Did You Miss The Tour Kick-Off Meeting?

Families who were unable to attend the Monday, December 13th Tour Kick-Off Meeting are asked to view the video linked below, review the slide-deck, and complete the "attendance form" to verify that you attended (by watching the video). 

Step 1: Watch THIS VIDEO, and review THESE SLIDES.

Step 2: Fill out THIS ATTENDANCE FORM to verify you have viewed the video. [https://tinyurl.com/LondonMeetingDec13]

Participation Interest Registration - Here!

Parents/Guardians should use the link below (or the button above) to express tentative interest in Tour Registration. Information provided will be reviewed by DGN Music Faculty and used to determine tour viability.

REGISTER HERE: tinyurl.com/DGNLondon2023PreReg

Presuming the tour is supported by the community, pre-registrant information will be shared with Destination Events. Families will then receive an email from Destination Events (or District 99) with further instructions for registering their student officially for the tour.

If you wish to register two or more students for the tour, please submit multiple copies of this form.  *** Please note that each unique student must have a unique guardian email associated with their name. ***

This is a NON-BINDING registration form. By completing this form you are expressing an interest in receiving official registration credential from Destination Events & District 99. 

Registration is due Sunday, January 9, 2022.

Decisions about tour viability will be made based on tour interest shown through this form.

DGN Welcomes Representatives from London’s New Year's Day Parade & Choral Festival Committee

Fine Arts faculty and students from North High School in Downers Grove have been invited to perform in the London's New Year's Day Parade & Choral Festival on January 1, 2023. On Wednesday, November 17, North High welcomed London's New Year's Day Parade & Choral Festival Committee for a ceremony and reception. View event photos HERE. View a broadcast of the invitation ceremony, HERE. 

The committee was welcomed by district and school administrators and North High band and choirs kicked off the ceremony by performing in the auditorium. The London delegates who formally invited North High School to London in 2023 included Mr. Bob Bone, London's New Year's Day Parade Founder and Executive Director; Mr. Steve Summers, London Mayors’ Association, Chairman; and Mr. Jonathan Whaley, Director of International Participation. The delegates presented the invitation to Dr. Hank Thiele, District 99 Superintendent; Dr. Courtney DeMent, Principal; Mr. Brayer Teague, Fine Arts Department Chairperson; and Mr. Robert Barnett, Mayor of Downers Grove.

“On behalf of the Fine Arts Department, we are honored to be invited to perform in London. The New Year’s Day Parade is one of the greatest parades in the world, and our marching band is thrilled to have the opportunity to return,” says North High Fine Arts Department Chair Brayer Teague. “The London International Choral Festival will be an outstanding performance opportunity for our singers, and we are excited to plan a cross-disciplinary tour that involves so many student musicians.” Teague added, “It was a pleasure meeting the committee and introducing them to our district and school administrators and our talented students and faculty.”

“North High School band and choir students will have a life-changing week in the historic city of London performing in the parade and immersing in a full educational program visiting museums, historic sites and places of architectural and artistic interest,” says London’s New Year’s Day Parade Executive Director Bob Bone. “We look forward to seeing the North High School students and staff to ring in the new year in 2023.”

In the parade, North High band students will perform to a street audience of over half a million people, with up to 600 million around the world watching on television. The parade will stream on the PBS Network in the United States. In the Festival Concert Series, choir students will perform to packed houses in some of London’s most prestigious music venues. The North High School Fine Arts Department participated in the parade in 2019 and 2015.

London Calling! DGN Band and DGN Choir Invited to Perform in England

The London New Year's Day Parade and London International Choral Festival have extended a joint invitation to the DGN Band and DGN Choir to perform in January 2023!

The DGN Fine Arts Department has begun planning a tour open to students who will register in 2022-2023 for a DGN Band or DGN Choir class. (This includes current 8th graders in the DGN Class of 2026.) Tour highlights will include performances by the Trojan Marching Band (2023 London New Year's Day Parade), the DGN Wind Ensemble (London New Year's Concert Festival), and the combined DGN Choirs (London International Choral Festival), as well as sight-seeing throughout the greater London metropolitan area.

The official invitations will be presented to students, faculty, and the Administration of Downers Grove North High School on Wednesday, November 17th, at 12:00 noon. A delegation of London dignitaries including Mr. Robert Bone (London New Year's Day Parade & Festival Executive Director) and Mr. Steve Summers (Chairman, London Mayors' Association & Past Lord Mayor, City of Westminster) are scheduled to speak at North High and present the formal invitation to the DGN Band and DGN Choir. The presentation will be live-streamed on the DGN Fine Arts YouTube Channel on November 17.

Current 9th, 10th, and 11th grade Band and Choir families, including families of current 8th grade students intending to enroll at North High in the Fall of 2022, are invited and encouraged to attend the TOUR KICK-OFF MEETING on Monday, December 13, 2021 at 7 PM in the Clarence Johnson Auditorium. Information about the tour, including costs, staggered payment schedules, and registration procedures will be covered. 

This will be the third tour of the DGN Band to the United Kingdom (having previously performed in the LNYDP 2011 and LNYDP 2019), and the first for the DGN Choir. Click HERE for a video of the DGN Trojan Marching Band's 2019 performance in the London New Year's Day Parade.