The Pride of Owasso’s Return to Ireland

By Braylon Sport

In 2014, the Pride of Owasso took the opportunity of a lifetime— traveling to Dublin, Ireland to perform in the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade. Since then, the band has been to other places and parades, such as the Rose Bowl in 2019, but has not had the luxury of going out of the country yet. However, this is soon changing as the Pride of Owasso will be returning in 2023 to participate in the same parade they were in seven years ago.

St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Dublin 2018

In late September, the band received a cordial invitation from Melissa Strah, the mayor of Dublin. The Pride of Owasso is excited to finally go to a foreign country, as no current high schooler has had the opportunity to travel and play with the band in another nation thus far. 

Olivia Voth, a junior in Owasso’s Color Guard exclaims, “I can’t wait to go to Ireland for my senior year! It’ll be my first time overseas.”

People like Voth may be excited to finally travel out of the country with the band, but this does not come without a hefty price. Anyone who wants to go is going to have to fundraise a large sum of money in order to attend the parade. Due to this, many students have begun designing their own fundraising plan in order to pay for the trip to Dublin.

There also has been some controversy surrounding the trip due to the band bringing the entire Fine Arts Department, even though they weren’t technically invited. This means that groups that typically wouldn’t go to other band events are also going to have the chance to go to Dublin, including theatre, choir and speech and debate. This has made many other bands in the area upset with Owasso’s decision to take everyone.

No matter the controversy, 2023 will be a big year for the Pride of Owasso. Though it is still a year out, Dublin will definitely leave a lasting memory in the hearts and minds of the band members, and give them something to look forward to and work for in this coming year.