O’Fallon, Ill.—The O’Fallon Township Marching Panthers are in New York City for a once in a lifetime trip to take part in the Thanksgiving Macy’s Day Parade. 

The school is one of only six high school marching band from across the U.S. chosen to perform. 

They will be the 9th of 11 bands to step off this morning. The parade starts at 8:30 a.m. on NBC.

The band has known since April 2022 that it would be heading to the Big Apple this year, the third time the school’s received the honor. 

Nearly 300 students, staff and chaperones are making the trip to New York, according to the O’Fallon Township High School Panther’s Band Facebook page.  

The students flew to New York Monday morning and ended the evening with a 2-hour rehearsal from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m., according to the band’s booster club. 

The students aren’t strangers to hours of practice. They wrapped up their competition season on Oct. 28 and have been preparing for the 2.5 mile parade route during the last few weeks.

During the parade route, they will be playing “Sleigh Ride” and “Frozen Parade Sequence.” Once they reach Macy’s Herald Square, they will perform “Joy,” a piece inspired by “Ode to Joy” and “Joy to the World”. The piece was written specifically for the band, according to the booster club.

The students will get some time to see the sights and sounds on Tuesday. That night, the band will have dinner with the cast from the Broadway musical “Hadestown” followed by tickets to the show. Wednesday will be more sight-seeing with a trip to see the Rockettes. 

There will be a 2:15 a.m. wake up call on Thursday so the band can do a brief run through of the parade before it’s showtime. Their Thanksgiving dinner will be on a cruise ship seeing the nightlife.

The band will head home Friday for a short rest before marching in the Illuminated Holiday Parade in their hometown Saturday night. 

You can follow the band's journey by checking it's Facebook page for updates.