PORTLAND -- Band members at three Oregon middle schools will be marching in the Macy's day-after-Thanksgiving Day parade after all, reversing an earlier announcement by Macy's that the bands would be cut to save time.

Earlier, Macy's spokeswoman Denise Hinton announced the company added three of its own floats, so it had to drop some participants to fit the downtown Portland parade into an allotted hour of TV time. She said only high school bands would march this year.

Late Wednesday, that decision was reversed.

About 250 students were affected. The bands are from Portland's Robert Gray and Sellwood middle schools as well as Canby's Ackerman Middle School. Students at all three middle schools have marched in the parade for years.

Robert Gray band leader Jeanne Berg called the change of heart "amazing" but worried the kids might feel tacked on to the end. Text messages to her from kids, though, suggested only excitement.