For the past 63 years in late November, hundreds of families have tuned in to the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The Royales have been given the opportunity to perform in this year’s 89th parade on Nov. 26. The girls will leave the Saturday before Thanksgiving and return home the Friday after. Although the parade is on Thanksgiving Day, the Royales’ performance will be centered around later winter holidays.

“Our dance routine is a mash up of various Christmas songs,” junior Bronté Bagwell said. “It’s super cool and a very different style from what we usually do.”

Although the Royales mainly perform at football games, they are aware that parades are a different type of performance venue.

“The environment will be extremely different as it is freezing in New York,” senior Captain Manda Varner said. “We will be joining other drill teams in the performance which is different.”

Continuing with their winter theme, the Royales have already prepared their costumes and makeup for the routine. They have each ordered the exact same materials in order to appear more uniform.

“We’re basically dressed up as gingerbread women,” Bagwell said. “Our costume is a brown outfit with a bunch of colorful buttons with red and white stockings.”

Spirit of America Productions (SOA), a production company based out of Frisco, organized the entire event with many other drill teams from around the nation. SOA and the Royales have worked with each other in the past.

“We’re a well known drill team and our directors have worked with the SOA staff for many years,” senior line officer Scarlett Killeen said. “We get invited almost every year.”

The Royales go on one trip annually. They switch off every year between Disney World and the parade, although this was not always the case.

“It used to be a seniors only trip that we took every year,” Killeen said. “Recently, however, we decided to go every other year with the entire team.”

The trip to New York will give the Royales national exposure along with a chance to strengthen their bond. Seeing as most of the girls will be away from their relatives on Thanksgiving, the team is planning on being each other’s family.

“We’re having a team dinner on Thanksgiving day after our performance,” Killeen said. “We’ll all be together like a giant family.”

While the girls are in New York, they will be using up all of their free time in order to truly immerse themselves in the experience of the city.

“We’re free for a majority of the trip to travel around the city in groups,” Varner said. “We’ll be attending Hamilton on Broadway and the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular.”

Being in the city is a big cause of excitement for some of the girls and being broadcasted on television is an even more surreal experience to them.

“I know that I will be extremely nervous,” Varner said, “but it is such a neat opportunity to be able to perform in the parade and I can’t wait.”