In December 2025, the Newsome High School Marching Band had the opportunity to showcase their talent in the Allstate Sugar Bowl New Year’s Eve Parade in New Orleans, Louisiana. With the marching band being highly competitive at their level, it struck the interest of the parade.
In November 2024, the director of the band was notified about this opportunity. The audition process consisted of sending their game-day performance, in which they were officially offered a spot.
The Allstate Sugar Bowl New Year’s Parade occurred on December 31, 2025, in the French Quarter. This parade was held the day before the big game between Ole Miss and Georgia football to create anticipation. Newsome, along with 11 other bands traveling from other East Coast, states took part in this celebration.
Two-thirds of the band, 87 students, traveled to New Orleans for the performance. The band felt confident going into the experience, as they had just ended football season. Throughout the season, the band had worked tirelessly on perfecting their sounds and tones.
The day before the parade, the band performed a standstill performance in Jackson Square. During their 15-minute allotted time, the band showcased their game-day performance.
On the day of the parade, Newsome marched after the Ole Miss University Marching Band. In this performance, they played the sound of “Cold Hearted,” by Paula Abdul. This song was one of the students’ favorites, and it was a big hit with the spectators as well.
Unaware of the competition among the bands, Newsome won Best Music and Best Marching, along with second place in the parade overall.
“I wanted to do an experience trip where we performed for the sake of performing, not for the sake of trying to win a trophy. Because of that, the kids had a really good time, and interestingly, by having a really good time and being able to relax and sell their performance, they still did really well competitively,” said John Davis, Newsome’s director of bands, reflecting on this experience.
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