New York City is 885 miles away from Covington, but that is not stopping the Pride of Eastside Eagles marching band from being in an empire state of mind.

This year The Pride’s 2024 halftime show is titled “Live from New York.” Songs included in this year’s show are “Welcome to New York” by Taylor Swift, “Brooklyn” by the Youngblood Brass Band, “Empire State of Mind” and JAY-Z and Alicia Keys. The show will also feature tunes from “In the Heights” as well as the classic “(Theme From) New York, New York” by Frank Sinatra.

While all of the sounds may be appealing for those listening, the song selection was purely intentional.

That is because on March 17, 2025, the Pride will make the trip up north to participate in the New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade. The Pride were one of several bands from across the country to apply and get accepted to participate.

But before the Pride can get to the big apple, they have to start at the very beginning.

The Pride began work on their season on July 8 and have continued to practice nearly every day. The band practiced for long intervals of time, both inside and outside, to learn all aspects of the multidimensional show. Since the school year began, the band continues to practice after school on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays and rehearse throughout the school day as well.

The work the Pride have put in since the first day of camp has really impressed band director Elijah Clark.

“I love this band,” Clark said. “I told them the first week of camp that they’re working, they’re just getting better every time.”

While the band has gotten slightly smaller this year – around 100 students – Clark has also taken note of the leadership skills displayed from the senior members of the band.

“We graduated a big class last year and a big part of our leadership camp was, ‘Guys who’s gonna step up? Who’s gonna take the place? Who’s gonna lead the band into the next one?’,” Clark said. “Our seniors, credit to them, they've been a huge help to us.”

While the Pride is known for putting on captivating performances during the halftime of football games, they can also be found competing in several competitions throughout the year.

This year they will be competing in the Oconee Classic competition in Milledgeville as well the Greater Atlanta Marching Festival in Conyers. Both of those competitions will serve as the litmus test for their season, before traveling to New York in March.

The journey to New York will not be easy for some in the band. At $1,400 per person, the band will have to utilize fundraisers to raise money for students that may need help in their expenses.

Clark said he hopes the community will take part in these fundraisers so that the students can enjoy a once in a lifetime opportunity.

But while the Pride is gearing up for the big culmination in March, they are continuing to get better day-by-day  as the season progresses. So much so, that when asked what the biggest improvement was this season, Clark could not give just one answer.

“There’s so many things. Our kids are working really hard,” Clark said. “There’s always something you can complain about [but] they’re good kids and they show up on time and they’re doing all those little things right so that we can have a good product to show everybody.”

But while on the field and in the rehearsal room qualities are important, it is the off the field qualities that are most important to Clark.

“Besides the music and besides the marching,” Clark said, “[they’re] being good people and taking care of each other.”