For the first time in Marching Mizzou’s 137-year history, the band was invited to participate in the 96th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. Naomi Wipfler is a freshman animal science pre-vet student from Wildwood, Missouri who auditioned for Marching Mizzou and initially was put on the priority waitlist. Two weeks before the Marching Mizzou conditioning camp, Wipfler got an email from Marching Mizzou band director, Dr. Amy Knopps, that a spot had opened up for Wipfler to join, and the rest is history.

Throughout the coming weeks of preparation for the parade, Wipfler and the rest of the band worked tirelessly on parade formations, the feature to be shown on 34th Street, building endurance, and mastering the details of everything in between. The local Mizzou Homecoming parade, which is roughly 1.5 miles long and can be done in an hour, paled in comparison to the length and difficulty of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which is roughly 2.5 miles long and has to be done in roughly the same amount of time. Marching Mizzou ended up marching the parade ahead of schedule, completing 2.5 miles in 33 minutes.