The 2025 Sycamore Pumpkin Fest Parade grand marshal with Sycamore roots won his second Grammy this month.

Bryan Carter, a 2008 Sycamore High School graduate, won his second Grammy on Feb. 1 for best arrangement with “Super Mario Praise Break,” performed by the 8-Bit Big Band.

Now a two-time Grammy winner, Carter returned to Sycamore in October as a dignitary of his hometown’s largest festival. While he was formally the 2025 Pumpkinfest Parade grand marshal, he also took time to speak with students at his alma mater, according to a Sycamore Community School District 427 social media post.

The Grammy and Tony Award-winning drummer, vocalist, composer, arranger, orchestrator and band leader told students about his time at Sycamore High School and his career, and he shared advice for aspiring musicians looking to follow in his footsteps.

After he graduated from Sycamore High in 2008, Carter went on to train at The Juilliard School, a private performing arts conservatory in New York. He has performed as a drummer for NBC’s “Maya & Marty,” “Sesame Street” and has frequently appeared as a guest with The 8G Band for NBC’s “Late Night With Seth Meyers,” according to the Sycamore Pumpkin festival.

In 2025, Carter was the musical director for the first Broadway play to be broadcast live. That play, the second-to-last performance of George Clooney’s “Good Night and Good Luck,” was televised and streamed on CNN and CNN International on June 7.