Fleis to ride in Detroit’s Thanksgiving Day parade

Rogers City native Melissa Fleis will ride in the Detroit Thanksgiving Day parade Thursday. She is listed among the “special celebrities” set to ride in the big parade.

The parade will be available to view locally on WGTU, the ABC affiliate out of Traverse City beginning at 9 a.m.

Fleis, the daughter of Doris and Jim Fleis of Rogers City, recently appeared in “Project Runway All-Stars” after earning a spot in the finals of “Project Runway” last fall. The Rogers City Area Chamber of Commerce honored her at the 2012 chamber banquet and the city declared “Melissa Fleis Day” in honor of her visit last fall.

She is a clothing designer in San Francisco who has her own line of clothing, specializing in leather coats for women. Melissa Fleis and her family attended the pre-parade fundraising event Hob Nobble Gobble at Ford Field in Detroit last Friday. (A link to her television interview with WDIV is on PIAdvance.com).

WDIV-TV Local 4 is the official television station of the 87th America’s Thanksgiving Parade presented by Art Van. The annual broadcast, live from Woodward Avenue, is hosted by Local 4 anchors Carmen Harlan, Devin Scillian, Chuck Gaidica, Rhonda Walker and Evrod Cassimy. The national broadcast, from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., reaches more than 140 major cities across the country.

MELISSA FLEIS, SHOWN with her parents Doris and Jim Fleis, will ride in the 87th America’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Thursday in Detroit. She is shown at the pre-parade fundraising event Hob Nobble Gobble, last week at Ford Field in Detroit.

Featured performances include “American Idol” winner, current “Biggest Loser” contestant and platinum-selling recording artist Ruben Studdard; Grammy Award-winning songwriter Allee Willis along with th

e Mid American Pompon All Stars; Local 4’s own Devin Scillian in a duet with Detroit powerhouse Jill Jack; Cash Money recording artist Sarah Lenore; and loyal Lions’ fan and fight song singer Theo “Gridiron” Spight.

Other “special celebrities” appearing in America’s Thanksgiving Parade include grand marshal and former Detroit Tigers manager, Jim Leyland; Disney’s “Teen Beach Movie” star, Garrett Clayton; “Top Chef Masters” winner Douglas Keane; Detroit-born and world-acclaimed singer/songwriter Sixto Rodriguez; and Detroit’s favorite mascots: Paws, Roary and Hooper.

Throughout America’s Thanksgiving Parade broadcast on Local 4, viewers can win special prizes while watching at home.