NEWS

Pride of Mississippi marching band wins in Ireland

From staff, submitted reports

The University of Southern Mississippi's marching band, The Pride of Mississippi, was named the overall winner of the International Band Parade in Limerick, Ireland, on Sunday. Twenty-four marching bands featuring 1,100 musicians from across Ireland, Europe and the United States performed in the 45th annual parade.

The Pride will travel to Dublin today for the St. Patrick's Day Parade there on Tuesday.

"Limerick was named Ireland's first National City of Culture in 2014, and the residents there know great music," said Steve Moser, dean of the College of Arts and Letters, who is with The Pride in Ireland. "The Pride was outstanding today, excited the crowds in Limerick, and were the great ambassadors for the University of Southern Mississippi and the State of Mississippi we all know them to be."

About 130 band members traveled to Ireland to march in the parades. The trip to Ireland is not the first for the Pride. The band also marched in the St. Patrick's Day Parade in the late 1990s, said James Standland, director of the Pride.

"I think this will be the band's third trip to Ireland in the past 25 to 30 years," he said.

Last March, the band received an invite from Oisín Quinn, then-lord mayor of Dublin, to participate in the annual St. Patrick's Day celebration.

"I was in Dublin for the St. Patrick's parade last year, I had gone over for a site visit and spoke with the mayor in his home," Standland said. "The next week after returning home, we received the invitation."

Several other U.S. bands will march in Tuesday's parade — North Dakota State University, Eastern New Mexico University and high school groups from Georgia, Indiana, Nevada and North Carolina.

The total cost of the trip is about $394,000 for the group of 179, which includes the band members, about 25 Dixie Darlings, relatives and guests who are not in the band.

"The students are footing their own bills about $2,000 to $2,500 each so all 300 band members are not going," Standland said.

Catherine Rand, director of bands at USM, said in an earlier story she is honored the band was invited to march in the parades.

During the trip, the USM group also will visit Trinity College, founded in 1592 by Elizabeth I of England and the oldest university in Ireland; and St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was built in 1191 and is the National Cathedral of the Church of Ireland; and tour Connemara in Galway County.

Pride of Mississippi in Ireland

The Pride of Mississippi will march again Tuesday in the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Dublin, Ireland. The band will perform the "USM Fight Song" and "Trooper Salute," a medley of patriotic music along the 2.75-mile route.

The last time the band marched in a St. Patrick's Day parade in Ireland was in the late 1990s.