The Chicago Thanksgiving Day Parade, an annual televised event, was held in Downtown Chicago on November 24th and featured more than 100 floats, blimps and performers as well as marching bands from 19 different schools and universities, one of them being LZHS.

The LZ marching band had first found out that they were set to appear in the Thanksgiving Parade at the end of last year.   

“I was just completely excited,” David Appel, senior, said. “I wasn’t really anxious or nervous because I know our band is really good and we can play really good music.”

 This isn’t the first time that LZ Band has been in a special event, however. Throughout the years the band has been to numerous locations.

“[In the past] we’ve been to Rome, Paris, London, and Madrid,” Josh Thompson, Band Director, said. “[We’ve been in the parade] five other times [and it’s] a really cool televised parade that everybody can be a part of and get that experience of a big, big, big parade that’s on TV.”

Big events like this, of course, can still be a stressful experience, even for drum majors, who are in charge of leading the band.

“I was spinning my mace at the front of the band and I was really nervous about dropping it or messing up and I did mess up a few times,” Ava Malin, senior drum major, said. “But it ended up being okay for the part on TV, so that was good.”     

This doesn’t stop band members from enjoying themselves during events, however.              

“[Parades are] super fun,” Malin said. “Everybody is so high energy and excited and [there was] dancing and yelling and chanting and we played Star Wars so people shouted out that they liked our music choice and it was just a super fun time.”

For some members, being in LZ Band is much more than just playing an instrument and marching in the hot sun for hours on end. 

“In band there’s a lot of camaraderie,” Appel said. “A lot of my close friends are in band, but even outside of my main friend group I’m friends with everyone and it’s such a great community.