Every year on Thanksgiving Day, a massive troupe of floats, balloons, celebrities and performers make their way through the crowded streets of New York City in the beloved Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. St. Louisans watching the parade at home last month may have glimpsed two Lindbergh High School students — junior Sarah Bailey and senior Rebecca Thomas — among the color guard performers in the Great American Marching Band.
“I really liked when we got to break free and high-five the kids, when (we) got to say ‘Hi’ to them,” Thomas said about her time in the parade. “They’re really happy about it. The performance part, where we were on live TV, was obviously really fun.”
This was not Bailey’s first time making the march to Macy’s Herald Square; she performed last year in the same parade. As auditions are due at the start of the calendar year, Bailey tried out for the first time as a freshman with only a few hours of choreography under her belt. Her acceptance and good experience in 2024 prompted her to give it another go this year, and Bailey’s initiative inspired her classmate, Thomas, to do the same.
When Thomas found out she had been accepted in late March, she was wrapping up a physics test.
“I was really surprised, and I was really happy,” Thomas said. “I was proud of myself. It was great, because it was like, ‘Oh, my hard work actually did pay off.’”
Before long, Thomas and Bailey were on the flight to New York City. There, they spent the week in rehearsals with the Great American Marching Band, which had accrued performers from high schools across the nation. They practiced at the Teaneck Armory in Teaneck, New Jersey, perfecting their color guard routines on a great grass field known as the Soccer Coliseum.
When they weren’t nailing down their performance for the iconic parade, the students had the chance to explore the city on their own as tourists.
“My favorite part is the parade, obviously, but also getting to meet new friends and getting a new group of people,” Bailey said. “You bring your own inside jokes from your own band — me and Rebecca did — but then you make your own group of friends. You have this new band for a little while, it’s just so great.”
“It’s very cool to experience it in a different way than you’re used to with your own band,” Thomas added.
On Thanksgiving Day, Bailey and Thomas had a call time of 1 a.m. to be ready to load the bus and depart. It was a night of minimal sleep for both Lindbergh performers — Bailey rose at 11 p.m. for the long day ahead, while Thomas opted to get ready before taking a short, light sleep.
After that, they had a final rehearsal at 3 a.m. in Macy’s Herald Square so they could get used to the performance area. Both Bailey and Thomas agreed it was fun to practice in the darkness and silence of the New York City streets. That run-through was followed by a trip to the Hard Rock Cafe for breakfast, where they said most people took naps.
During the parade, the Great American Marching Band was sandwiched between “Sesame Street” and the “A Diary of a Wimpy Kid” float. The Lindbergh students both let their families know ahead of time where they would be performing in the lineup so they could keep an eye out for their children’s big performance.
“My highlight is always waving to the little kids in the buildings,” Bailey said. “When you wave up at the kids in the buildings, they’re like, ‘Oh my God, you looked at me, you see me!’”
Now that they have left the loud cheers and a long day of marching behind in the Big Apple, Thomas and Bailey both say that the opportunities of being in the Great American Marching Band are “limitless” and can be an option for those with the passion to pursue it.
“I don’t feel like enough people know about it,” Thomas said. “I think it’s more doable than people think it is. If you want to go do it, I think you should audition. It’ll go well, and if not, you can try again next year. It’s a really cool experience.”
