Marching Mizzou received an invitation in April 2021 to perform in the 2022 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. The University of Missouri’s marching band was selected from more than 100 applicants as one of 12 marching bands to march in the 96th edition of the annual holiday parade. This marks the marching band’s first appearance in the parade.
“For me personally, I grew up watching this parade every Thanksgiving morning with my family and I know many of our students share that same tradition with their families,” according to Dr. Amy Knopps, director of Marching Mizzou and associate director of bands at the MU School of Music. “Now they’re going to have the opportunity to be in the parade themselves and create these memories that are going to last a lifetime. Moving forward, they’ll continue to wake up on Thanksgiving morning and reflect back on the time that they had this wonderful opportunity to represent our state, and the University of Missouri in this capacity.”
Dr. Knopps was unsure of when Marching Mizzou will come across television screens, but said, “We don’t have a specific actual time, yet, but I would encourage everyone to make sure that they’re up early and watching from the beginning of the parade.”
The announcement that Marching Mizzou will perform in this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was announced during the band’s end of the year virtual banquet in 2021. The 300+ members of the band, drumline, feature twirlers, color guard and Golden Girls have spent 18 months preparing for this parade appearance.
“They can expect to hear some traditional favorites,” according to Dr. Knopps. “We’re going to be performing our fight songs along the parade route, Every True Son, and Fight Tiger, chanting along the way.”
The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is on Thursday, November 24 at 9:00 a.m. ET/PT on NBC and Peacock.
