LARAMIE, Wyo. — Although the University of Wyoming’s football season may be over, the school’s marching band still has one more opportunity to set the scene for a football game. The Western Thunder Marching Band will be one of 22 bands performing in the Rose Bowl parade Jan. 1.
A storied tradition of one of college football’s biggest games, the Rose Bowl parade features a series of bands all across the world marching along Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, California, every New Year’s Day. This year, alongside bands from all around the country, bands from Japan, Panama, Mexico, Denmark and more will be featured in the event.
This all plays into the theme of the 2025 Rose Bowl parade, which is “Celebrating a World of Music: The Universal Language.”
The UW marching band is currently the largest it has ever been and has been under the direction of Director Joe Carver since 2019. With a big band with one of the more interesting niches in musical footslog — the band’s cowboy hats are a classic and unique aspect of their uniform — the band from Wyoming will certainly leave its mark in California to start the new year.
Audiences now know who will be performing on the field in Pasadena as well. Since cinching the top seed and a bye in the College Football Playoffs with a perfect season and Big Ten championship game win, the Oregon Ducks made sure of their appearance at the Rose Bowl weeks ago. All of this also happened for the Ducks in their first-ever year in the conference.
Yesterday, when Ohio State University took down the University of Tennessee in a 42–17 blowout, the Buckeyes officially secured their spot in round two of the playoffs and a place at the Rose Bowl.
While the football game itself will be available to watch via the usual channels, options are slightly more limited for the parade, which occurs right before the game starting at 9 a.m. and likely lasting through 11 a.m. The largest national broadcaster streaming the parade is ABC, but other channels will broadcast the event as well.
For more information on scheduling, streaming, participating bands and more, see the Tournament of Roses website here. For more information on the Western Thunder Marching Band, visit its page on the University of Wyoming website, which is linked here.
