DAYTON, Ohio — St. Patricks Day is only a few weeks away. Festivities and parades are already underway, and one lucky band in the Buckeye State will be participating in the big parade all the way in Ireland. 

What You Need To Know

  • The Pride of Dayton Marching Band will be performing in the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Dublin, Ireland

  • The band is one of only a select few bands to perform in the parade

  • The marching band has been practicing for months to prepare for the big day

  • Color guard captain Imani Prophet is excited to have the opportunity to perform overseas

Imani Prophet has been part of color guard since her freshman year of high school. She's now the Pride of Dayton Marching Band color guard captain. She followed in the footsteps of her big sister. 

“I’m like well if my sister did this, I know I can do it. I stayed with it pretty much because of the camaraderie and performing,” said Prophet. “I really love performing.”

Prophet and her group are working on a routine for the upcoming St. Patricks Day parade in Dublin, Ireland. “Victory," “Beautiful Day” and “Fly” are just some of the hits they’ll perform. So nailing down the techniques Prophet said will be important for the two-mile march. 

“It’s a matter of teaching (and) endurance because it is a long parade and putting all that together and hopefully it will look great at the end of it,” she said. 

The Pride of Dayton Marching Band is one of only a few select bands to perform in the St. Patricks Day Parade. The band was scheduled to perform in the 2021 parade, but because of the pandemic, it was canceled. Band director Kenneth Will said he’s proud and excited for the band to show off their skills. 

“These students work so hard every single year, every single day that they’re out here, and to finally put them in a place where they can show that off on the world stage is something that I’m really excited about and I think the students are excited about,” said Will. 

Students are definitely excited about the opportunity, that’s especially the case for Prophet who had planned to go on a study abroad trip last year to Ireland, but it was canceled. 

“Being chosen for this has made me more excited about going to Ireland because I wasn’t able to go before,” she said. “And so now it’s a second chance to do something I wasn’t able to do before.”

She’s looking forward to showing off her skills and making her team proud. 

“Just giving me a chance so somebody can see what I enjoy to do, what I’ve done for the past eight years of my life, sharing my joys (and) my passions with them really excites me,” she said. 

The band will leave for Ireland on March 13 and will return on March 20. The parade will be live streamed. To find out more, click here.