FLAGSTAFF, AZ (AZFamily) — The Northern Arizona University marching band is in New York City, preparing to perform in the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade!
The Lumberjack marching band is making history as the first Arizona college marching band to play in the iconic event.
The band performed a concert in Central Park on Monday to prepare for Thursday’s performance and to entertain park visitors.
“There is such a magnetic energy to this city,” said Stephen Meyer, NAU band director, speaking from Central Park. “I would say about 95% of our students have never been here before. When we were pulling up on the buses into Times Square, they were just thrilled; pointing and all of the excitement was exactly what we were hoping for after about 18 months of planning.”
The Northern Arizona University marching band is in New York City for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.(NAU Marching Band)Fundraising and preparation
The marching band raised $250,000 to make the trip happen. Meyer said it’s an enormous honor to represent the university, Flagstaff and the whole state.
More than 250 band members will walk in the parade. Meyer discussed the song they will perform on national television.
“Since we have such a national stage, we wanted to do something that represents Arizona and Flagstaff, so we found an arrangement of ‘Get Your Kicks On Route 66’ by John Mayer from the ‘Cars’ movie, and so that’s going to be what we perform in Heralds Square,” Meyer said.
The students will also get time to explore New York City. They plan to visit the 9/11 Museum and see a Broadway show.
See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.
Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.
Copyright 2025 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.