The USC band will be on national TV twice this week, for that big Thanksgiving Day parade and that bigger football game
On Thursday, rightfully proud University of South Carolina students in The Carolina Band will stride through the streets of New York in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for the first time in the mesmerizing marching band’s 104-year history.
Palmetto State pride is becoming a familiar feeling for fans of marching bands in the most watched parade in the U.S.
This will be the second time in three years that a Columbia, South Carolina, marching band has been among the 10 or so chosen for this parade from more than 100 that apply nationwide each year to perform before millions of spectators and tens of millions of people watching on screens. It’s a big deal.
In 2022, the honor belonged to the Benedict College Marching Tiger Band of Distinction. Next year, in 2025, the Catawba Ridge High School Marching Band from Fort Mill will march in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, becoming the third South Carolina band to do so in four years.
Only bands from the bigger states of Texas and Indiana have had better runs in recent years. A marching band from those two states has been in the parade every year since 2021. Texas will make it five straight years in 2025 because another Lone Star State marching band has already been selected for next year. Only the NYPD Marching Band, a presence in the parade every year, enjoys a longer streak.
This year, there will be no better showcase of timing and teamwork than the marching band the rest of America will soon know as the “Mighty Sound of the Southeast.” This year also marks only the 17th time a South Carolina band will be in the parade since 1958. Fort Mill’s Nation Ford High School Band marched twice, in 2011 and 2017. Duncan’s James F. Byrnes High School “Rebel Regiment” Marching Band performed three times, in 1980, 1996 and 2002.
The Carolina Band practiced its tunes and techniques on the streets of Columbia on Saturday, Oct. 26, marching from Greene and Pickens streets to Sumter Street and ending with a free concert on the steps of the south entrance of the Statehouse. Days earlier, the university announced it met a $645,000 fundraising goal with three $25,000 gifts from USC women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley, USC football coach Shane Beamer and USC alumnus and singer Darius Rucker to send the band north.
When 400 band members, directors and support staff left campus Sunday in buses bound for New York City, it was the culmination of months of fundraising that began when the selection became public in September 2023. How stoked are the students? Drum major Maggie Boyd, a biological sciences student, told The Daily Gamecock the announcement brought tears to her eyes as she soaked in the adulation at a game at Williams-Brice Stadium.
“Hearing those words out loud and hearing that cheer echo back from the crowd, I’ll be honest, I started crying on my podium because I realized these people do care about us, and they care about our university,” Boyd said then. “Even if they don’t know the inner workings day-to-day, exactly how many steps we took to get here, they know how hard we worked, and they’ve just always been there for us, and we’re so thankful.”
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Counting those steps would be near impossible now, but they’re headed in the right direction. The band has long been a university staple, playing for sold-out crowds at energetic football games, and Thursday will be its biggest stage yet.
The Carolina Band doesn’t get to rest on its laurels, though.
Just two days after Thanksgiving, the band’s due back in the state to perform at Clemson University on Saturday when the Gamecocks and the Tigers renew a heated, more than century-old rivalry on national TV in a big game with potential national college football playoff implications.
The students may not admit it, but they might be even more excited for Saturday’s performance. A happy Thanksgiving may lead to an even happier Palmetto Bowl.
Hey! Let’s give a cheer, Carolina is here
The fighting Gamecocks lead the way.