More veterans and vehicles are expected to be part of Arnold’s annual Veterans Day Parade, said Larry Boyce, a Veterans Commission member.
Boyce said the commission is expecting up to 160 veterans in this year’s parade, which also is expected to include five firetrucks and six military vehicles.
“It is supposed to be quite a bit bigger than last year,” he said. “That is our goal to make it bigger every year.”
The parade is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 8. The parade is organized by the Parks and Recreation Department and Veterans Commission. Fox High School Student Council members hold a luncheon program for veterans following the parade.
Last year, approximately 100 people participated in the parade, and about 80 veterans were honored during a luncheon, organizers said.
“We are looking forward to a bigger and better parade,” said Boyce, who served two years in the Army after being drafted in 1967 during the Vietnam War.
Those participating in the parade are invited to gather at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 2211 Tenbrook Road. Church members will serve coffee and doughnuts starting at 10 a.m.
The parade will travel from the church’s parking lot down Tenbrook Road, crossing Jeffco Boulevard to enter the Fox C-6 School District schools campus, 751 Jeffco Blvd.
The veterans will then circle the campus, which is home to Fox elementary, middle and high schools as well as Rickman Auditorium, the Central Office and Bridges Alternative School.
“That’s the big thing for me, and the veterans enjoy it,” Boyce said of marching through the campus. “To watch these kids and the way they treat veterans, it is just a good way to pass on a tradition of what a veteran does and what a veteran has done in the past. Every year, we have several graduates from Fox who are joining the military. It is a nice parade.
“I think the students enjoy it. They always seem to really like the veterans in the parade.”
The procession will end near the flagpole outside of Bridges, where a wreath ceremony will be held.
Fox High School Principal Ryan Sherp said students look forward to the parade every year.
“It is awesome,” he said. “I think everyone enjoys seeing the elementary (students) out there and then the middle (school students) and then the high (school students). You see the progression of the ages of the kids as you march.”
Following the ceremony at the flagpole, veterans will be invited to the new addition at Fox High, which leads to the Leo C. Peck Media Center, for lunch and a program organized to honor the veterans.
Sherp said Fox High juniors and seniors will join the veterans for lunch and the program, which are organized by Student Council members.
“I have been in other high schools, and I don’t know another high school that does Veterans Day better than Fox High,” he said. “I really believe that. The kids really look forward to it, and it is all student run. I think that is amazing. The kids plan it and organize it, and it has been good every year that I have been here. The veterans love it.”
For more information about the parade, call the Arnold Parks and Recreation Department at 636-282-2380.