The Jamestown High School Marching Band is leaving today for the Windy City to march in the St. Patrick’s Day parade. This is the first time the band will march in the parade. Submitted photo

The Jamestown High School Marching Band is traveling to the Windy City to march in the famous St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

The band is departing this afternoon for Chicago for their first-ever performance in the parade. The group will spend a few days in the city and complete a full schedule of events throughout the trip.

Emily Anderson, Jamestown High School senior, and Andrew Roof, 11th-grader, said they are looking forward to the parade and all the activities they will be attending.

Anderson, who plays the bass clarinet, said she is glad to visit Chicago because she has never been there before.

“Seeing a new city is always really fun, but we’ve got some really fun things lined up like seeing the aquarium,” she said.

Roof, a drum major for the marching band, said he is excited for the parade and the Science and Industry Museum.

Both have been on trips with groups from the school, including a trip to Washington, D.C. with the A Cappella Choir last year. Anderson traveled to Disney in her freshman year with a school group.

Roof said he believes the trip to Chicago is a momentous occasion for the band, as they have never performed in the St. Patrick’s Day parade before.

“We’re so used to just doing parades around Jamestown (like) the Christmas Parade and the Memorial Day Parade,” he said. “But doing it in a bigger parade pretty much as a representative of New York as a whole is a big thing for us.”

Anderson said the experience will be one to remember.

“You can go to Chicago with your family, but to go with all your closest friends is such a cool experience,” she said.

The band will begin loading the buses at 11:45 a.m. and will depart at 1 p.m. Anderson and Roof said the experiences on the bus rides to and from locations are always fun because everyone is constantly surrounded by friends. They will arrive in Chicago by Thursday night.

Friday, the group will take a city tour, visit the science museum and visit the Sky Deck. The group will also partake in the eating of Chicago-style pizza that evening.

The group will perform in the parade on Saturday at noon Chicago time, which is 1 p.m. here in Jamestown. Afterward, the group will watch “Tommy Gun’s” at the longest running dinner theater in Chicago.

On Sunday, the group will tour the aquarium, will watch Blue Man Group and will partake in a Navy Pier cruise. They will leave Chicago on Monday for the return trip.

Meghan Murray, marching band director, said trips like these are important because they allow students to experience a place and see different things than they normally would.

“There are so many kids in the band who would never otherwise have this opportunity to travel to any place outside of Jamestown,” Murray said. “To travel to a city like this, one of the biggest in the country, is a life-long learning experience they’ll have forever. Hopefully, it will get them to open their world a little bit.”

Due to support from the students families and the community, these trips are made possible, Murray said. Fundraising and planning began almost a year ago, she said. “Now, we’re at the point where we can pay for everything when they’re there,” Murray said. “Our community has supported us so much so that we can take these trips and relieve some of the burden off the kids financially.”

The parade will be televised by ABC in Chicago, and will be live streamed on their website at ABC7Chicago.com, Murray said.

“We were excited to get accepted (in the parade),” she said, adding there was an application process for the event. “We’re going to wear green plumes, and we have this St. Patrick’s Day music we’re going to be playing.”