*(CNN) — Well, they did it! Alabama A&M University’s Marching Maroon and White Band kicked off the 97th annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Thursday in New York City. Check them out via the video above.
Earlier, the band’s director, Carlton Wright, told CNN the performance would be a significant moment for the historically Black college: “This is going to be huge,” he said. “Nerves will be a factor for both the students and for me and the staff.”
But Wright said his biggest concern wasn’t nerves. Rather, it’s the weather.
“A lot of bands don’t perform in these temperatures,” he explained. “We just have to make sure that we are warmed up and lips are loose.”
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Pare Temps – screenshot
The National Weather Service predicted a low of 40 degrees Fahrenheit Wednesday night and a high of 50 today, Thanksgiving Day.
But now that it’s a done deal, the band obviously was able to deal with the conditions.
Wright said AAMU’s band – which is comprised of 256 students – had been preparing for the parade since September.
“The students were drilled like drill sergeants would do,” he said. “Campus sits on a massive hill, and to make sure that we had a good endurance, we marched up the entire campus on the steepest fields while playing, so that they could understand what the test would be in New York.”
Two years ago, Wright said he watched other marching bands perform in the Thanksgiving parade and thought, “Why not us?” So, he opened his laptop and applied.
“It took me about maybe a month to six weeks to go ahead and complete the application and send it in, because I wanted to make sure that everything was just correct,” he recalled.
Still, Wright admitted he was surprised when organizers informed him the university’s band had been selected to lead in this year’s Macy’s parade.
“I was just shocked that we made it because most bands don’t get selected on the first try,” he said.
The band had a 2 a.m. call time Thursday to go over its 75-second televised performance.
Alabama A&M University Marching Maroon & White band (Paras Griffin-Getty Images)
Wright hopes that by introducing the band to a new audience viewers came away feeling joy and happiness.
The parade, which featured a dozen marching bands, along with performances by John Batiste, Brandy, Chicago, En Vogue, and Cher, was televised nationally on NBC.
By the way, Al Roker, who missed last year’s parade for the first time in 27 years because of health issues, returned as co-host with fellow NBC’s “TODAY” show anchors Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb.
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