The Pride of the Dakotas: Jackrabbits headed to Windy City

The Pride of the Dakotas Marching Band will join the Chicago Thanksgiving Day Parade in fall 2026. More than 300 Jackrabbits will travel to the Windy City from Nov. 23-27, marching in the parade on Nov. 26. 

Kevin Kessler is the director of athletic bands and directs The Pride at South Dakota State University.

“It’s one of the largest Thanksgiving parades in the country. It’s a major parade in a major American city. An estimated 400,000 people on the street will watch it. It’s a big deal,” Kessler said.

He said trips like this one are become a calling card of what The Pride does.

Lots of logistics

Although major, multiday and national trips are familiar to The Pride, coordinating them is a lot of work. The Chicago trip requires wrangling hundreds of students alone.

Luckily, Jackrabbits tend to show up in the most unexpected places. The travel agent organizing the trip is a South Dakota State alumnus who holds a music degree.

Most of the focus will be on planning for the parade, which will require an early morning. The three-hour parade starts at 8 a.m.

The Pride will have at least two pieces of music ready. The school’s fight song, “Ring the Bell,” is a must. The other piece or pieces will be decided this summer with student and staff input.

“Whatever we choose will be high energy and recognizable to the audience. The main objective is to entertain and bring joy to those who see and hear us,” Kessler said.

A history of excellence

Whenever The Pride leaves campus, they’re representing not only SDSU’s marching band program, but the entire university. That’s nothing new to the band.

In the band’s history, The Pride has marched in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, two presidential inaugural parades, two Rose Parades, the National Independence Day Parade and more. In 1939, The Pride went to Winnipeg and marched in a parade honoring the king and queen of England for their first royal trip to the Americas. 

It’s a team effort, and one that extends beyond the students doing the marching.

“When we’re performing in big events like this, it just reminds me of the incredible support we have to do these things in the first place,” Kessler said.

He credits donors, administrators and David Earnest, the dean of College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; David Reynolds, director of the School of Performing Arts; Dennis Hedge, provost; and Barry Dunn, president of South Dakota State University.

“They said, ‘Yes, let’s do it. We want to give these students this opportunity,’” he said.

A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity

Kessler guesses that for a large portion of the band, this will be their first visit to Chicago.

Fortunately for them, the trip includes plenty of time for sightseeing and dining.

“What’s going to make this special is the number of people in all types of disciplines that will get to see something that speaks to an interest of theirs. This gives them a different worldview and an experience they may not have been given had they not been in band,” Kessler said.

As a group, the band will visit the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, the Shedd Aquarium, Willis Tower, Millennium Park (home of the Cloud Gate statue, otherwise known as “The Bean”) and Lake Michigan. The day before the parade is a free day when students are free to explore the other sights of the city on their own.

For students who don’t major in music — which is a majority of The Pride — they’ll likely still learn something in their field on the trip.

Engineering students may find the science museum of academic interest. Visual art and graphic design majors may head to the Art Institute of Chicago. Architecture and civil engineering students may see something new in the Chicago skyline itself.

On the trip, the opportunities for learning and making memories are numerous. That’s just another calling card of The Pride.