Fourteen-year-old Austin Shafer really had no idea what the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade was — until he found out he was marching in it.

Freshman Austin Shafer is one of three Arizona high school students selected to march in the 83rd annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Jackie Leatherman/News-Herald Photo.

“I’ve never watched the Macy’s Day parade,” Shafer confessed, except for bits and pieces of the event. “I never really knew what it was.”

Now he knows.

Shafer is one of three Arizona high school students to join 200 others from around the nation to be a part of the Macy’s Great American Marching Band for the 83rd parade in New York City.

Shafer will play his clarinet in front of an estimated 2.5 million live spectators and 50 million television viewers, according to the marching band’s Web site.

“I feel great,” he said. “I’ve never been a part of something this big ever, so it’s pretty cool.”

Shafer, a freshman at Lake Havasu City High School, qualified for a regional state band last spring, which automatically allowed him to apply for the Macy’s marching band. He received his acceptance letter last spring.

Shafer, who has played the clarinet for three years — following in the musical footsteps of his mother and great-grandfather, said he has no idea what set him apart from the other applicants.

“I honestly don’t know,” he said.

But all he does know is that he must learn “76 Trombones” and “Americans on Parade” before his practice starts in NYC Monday. Shafer left Friday and returns the day after Thanksgiving. The farthest east he has been is Wisconsin, other than a flight layover in Georgia, he said.

His schedule is packed with practicing and touring the sights for the next week.

When asked what he is most looking forward to, he rattles off seeing the Statute of Liberty, Rockefeller Center, and “oh yea, practicing. It will be a lot of fun.”

But the teenager is confident he won’t be nervous moments before his feet hit 7th Avenue in front of roughly 17 percent of the United States population.

“I might get some butterflies then, but not much,” he said.

You may contact the reporter at jleatherman@havasunews.com