Sarah Bailey, a sophomore at Lindbergh High School, was selected out of applicants from around the country to perform as a color guard member for the Macy’s Great American Marching Band in the 98th annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

“(My mom’s) always got these opportunities for me. She saw it on Facebook from another guard account,” Bailey said. “We looked into it for a while and we talked to a couple people about it and I was like, ‘Wow, this is a really cool opportunity. I’d love to do this.’ I think we applied the very first day.” 

To apply Bailey had to create a YouTube video showcasing her twirling and choreography skills. About a month later, on the way to teach middle school colorguard, Bailey found out she was accepted. 

“I got accepted through email and I just absolutely lost my mind right there in the middle of the bus,” Bailey said. “I hadn’t told my friends about it either, and so I was very happy. I started crying a little bit, and they’re like, ‘oh my god, what happened?’ And then I  got to tell them.”

While in New York, Bailey had the chance to explore the city, visiting Radio City Music Hall, Rockefeller Center, Times Square, Bryant Park and the New York Public Library. The MGAMB – comprised of approximately 185 musicians and 40 flags and dancers from high school students from across the county – also spent the week practicing quite a bit.

“We practiced all together for the main parade part, the Herald Square that you see on TV. That’s what we practiced over and over and over and over again. Very little rehearsal was spent on actually walking in the parade. That was probably the simplest part,” Bailey said.

About halfway through the weeklong trip, the group found out that it would be doing the opening ceremony and ribbon cutting with Billy Porter. 

“We went to another rehearsal place somewhere. There were hip-hop dancers, there were roller skaters, people on stilts and Billy Porter and we practiced that opening ceremony. Basically, I think they wanted the band there as a spectacle because the instruments did not play their music. It was pre-recorded,” Bailey said. “It was really cool to be there.”

On Thanksgiving Day, Bailey and the other members of the MGAMB woke up at midnight to prepare for the parade. 

“The call time was 1:45 a.m. with your hair done, your makeup done and your costume on ready to go,” Bailey said.

Once at Herald Square, the group practiced a few more times before the parade began. 

“We got into our formation and we practiced the opening ceremony over and over and over again until Billy Porter got there. (Then) we did it a couple more times and that was that. That was a little bit miserable because we were essentially doing the same flag motion over and over again in like 20 degree weather while it was raining. It was wet and it was cold. That was difficult, but it was fun and I still enjoyed it.”

The parade then began with Bailey and MGAMB right in the front behind the giant turkey, Al Roker and Jimmy Fallon.

“It got warmer when we started marching, which was very nice. It was a lot of fun because there’s hundreds and hundreds of people in buildings, especially because it was wet, so you could see everybody in these buildings and you could see everyone on the sides of the streets,” Bailey said. “When we weren’t waving our flags we got to stand there and wave and say ‘Happy Thanksgiving,’ which was so much fun. I love that so much because when you would look up into the high-rise buildings, there were a ton of little kids there, so I would wave up really high to see if I could get their attention. When I did get their attention, it was adorable.”

The parade eventually made its way to Herald Square where the big performance took place.

“We did the performance for Herald Square which is on TV, it’s the part that everybody sees. Being wet and cold and the flags being wet made it a lot more difficult to do it properly, but I still think we did pretty good as a group. They pointed this out to us at the very beginning that we had four rehearsals as a group. Every other marching band that came had months together to practice, so for having four rehearsals, I think we did really good,” Bailey said. 

Following the parade, the band and their family members shared a Thanksgiving meal and dance party. To commemorate the week, Bailey bought an extra bass drum head with ‘Macy’s Great American Marching Band 2024’ printed on it. Her new friends and some of the band directors signed it which was “really cool” according to Bailey.

 “It was a huge honor. Me and the two other girls (from Lafayette High School) representing the entire city. I think there were maybe one or two other people from Missouri there in the entire band. Me getting to represent Lindbergh and all of us representing the state and us together representing the whole nation was really cool.”