Clark County R-1 Marching Band heads to NYC for St. Patrick’s Day Parade

KAHOKA, Missouri (WGEM) - About 100 Clark County R-1 High School students were on their way to New York City Wednesday, preparing for a big performance.

The band will participate in the Manhattan based St. Patrick’s Day parade this Friday.

About 150,000 people are taking part in the parade and officials are expecting more than 1 million in-person spectators for the day long event.

Clark County R-1 Marching Band Director Robert Dooley said with the rural school only having about 400 students, taking 1/4 of the kids to perform on such a large scale is exciting.

“It’s a lot of money to take these kids on this trip and we’ve had every business in this town has stepped forward to help us raise money to help the kids who couldn’t raise the money themselves and we’re taking every kid that could possibly go on this trip because of the help from our community,” Dooley said. “So I just want to say a huge thanks to all the businesses who have stepped forward and helped our kids.”

Senior percussionist Wyatt Randall said he was excited to perform on such a large scale and represent other students coming from rural areas.

“I feel more confident actually being able to go out there and do this and just thinking about that there’s millions of people we can play for and show that coming from the small town you can still be just as good as a big city town or just a bigger town”

Dooley said after the band’s parade duties are done, the students can explore the other sights of New York.

They plan to visit the Empire State Building, 911 Memorial and catch a show on Broadway.

Click here for details on how you can stream the parade.

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