Band students from Reed High School marched in the 2020 New Year's Day Parade on Wednesday. 

ORIGINAL STORY: 

Band students from Reed High School will be heading overseas to show off their skills at the 2020 New Year's Day Parade.  The Lord Mayor of London made the formal announcement at Reed today.

The members of the band put in a lot of practice time.

"I go home and I practice for hours, so it's a lot, but it's a lot of fun in the end," said Lacie Zito, a sophomore.

And all that practice is paying off - the parade is a very popular event.

"We did have to apply for the parade and send in a performance so they could vet the organization," said Ron Eichstedt, Reed Director of Instrumental Music.  "And so they can make sure we can represent the parade well because it is a live stream for 600 million overseas."

It's been almost a decade since the band played overseas and the organization has grown considerably in that time.

"It feels amazing knowing that I started as a little freshman and it was this small group and now it's up to 106 band members," said Emaleigh Barry, a senior.  "It's amazing."

Eichstedt has watched the band evolve over the years.

"We've grown from 40 to 106," he said.  "We're one of the largest in Northern Nevada and it's a big thing for the community to be able to travel overseas, spread music education and get the students and community into traveling, get them a little more culture."

And even though the big day is more than a year away, upperclassmen will still have a chance to participate.

"We're inviting the Alumni of the Reed Raider Band to participate in the trip," Eichstedt said. "They can come as spectators if they like, but they're also more than welcome to perform with us and continue that raiders spirit."

It's a trip students are already looking forward to.

"It's amazing to show a little town from Nevada can play super well and we enjoy doing stuff like that," Barry said. "Especially bringing joy to any community that we can."

Fundraising for the trip is already underway; the hope is to have about 75 people in the parade and as many local spectators as possible.

"We're a family - it's just like sports," Zito said. "It's a family, we all like each other and there's just so much to like about it."