SDSU marching band to march in 2022 Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade

BROOKINGS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) - Members of the South Dakota State University Pride of the Dakotas Marching Band found out Thursday that for the first time in the school’s history, they will be participating in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade dates back to 1924, with marching bands participating since the very beginning.

SDSU was one of three universities selected out of over 100 applications from around the country.

Kevin Kessler, the Director of Athletic Bands says the selection is a testament to the hard work of the students.

“They dedicate themselves to a lot of time and a lot of hard work,” he said.

Organizers say they selected the SDSU Pride of the Dakotas Marching Band for a variety of reasons and can’t wait to see what they can do at next year’s parade.

“The most important piece of information we get is a field show video usually from a halftime show of a football game and we review their performance we’re looking for entertainment value and perhaps most importantly how the crowd responds to their performance,” says Macy Parades Creative Producer Wesley Whatley.

The marching band was originally selected in February of last year to participate in the 2021 parade, but the pandemic pushed their invitation back to 2022 before an announcement was ever made to the band.

“The announcement was supposed to happen on March 31st. In retrospect it was probably better we didn’t make the announcement. The disappointment would have been severe,” says Kessler.

Many members of the band say they are very excited for the opportunity to perform on such a big stage.

“I know for a fact that all of us are going to be very excited, also some nerves, but mostly excited to perform in front of millions of people,” said SDSU freshman percussionist Anna Olson.

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