Clovis High School Marching Band Earns Spot in 2027 Rose Parade

The Clovis High School marching band has been selected to perform in the 2027 Rose Parade in Pasadena, marking its first appearance in the New Year's Day tradition since 1986.

The announcement came during a ceremony held Friday on the school's campus. Terry Madigan, president of the Tournament of Roses, congratulated the group after what he described as years of applications. "Every time you've applied, you've gotten better and better and better, and it was a very easy decision this time," Madigan said.

The band has nearly 250 students, and each of them is expected to walk the parade's five-and-a-half-mile route on January 1, 2027. Clovis High is one of only eight schools across the nation chosen to take part.

Principal Matt Lucas said students have devoted hundreds of hours to preparing for a potential return to the parade, and that the effort has been backed by support stretching from elementary school through high school. "It's a giant family," Lucas said. "They love each other. They put in hundreds of hours, thousands of hours. Whether you're here early in the morning or late in the evening. You're going to find the music team here working with students, and it shows a lot in their work because of them getting accepted into the Rose Parade."

Noah Xiong, the band's head drum major, said the news still feels unreal. "I can't express enough how much this means to all of us," Xiong said. "Like never in a million years would I imagine that we're going to be in the Rose Parade, and it's really awesome."

Madigan urged the students to soak in the experience as they march before hundreds of thousands of spectators along the route. Millions more watch online each year, he noted. To illustrate the reach, he said the parade's TikTok livestream alone drew more than 5.5 million viewers last year.

The celebration for the band will not end with the Pasadena event. The following day, the students will also march in a parade at Disneyland.