Area communities will join the rest of the nation this weekend to remember and salute its military veterans.

Since Veterans Day is Sunday this year, most parades and other activities will take place throughout the weekend and Monday, including one of the area’s largest in Leavenworth.

The Leavenworth County Veterans Day Parade on Monday has been recognized as an official Veterans Day regional site by the Veterans Day National Committee. The designation is awarded to communities for serving as a model “for other communities to follow in planning their own observances.” A total of 30 Veterans Day events across the country received the designation this year, including in Leavenworth and Emporia in Kansas.

“We were very honored,” said Diane Smith, secretary of the Leavenworth County parade committee. “We didn’t even know we were being looked at to be selected.”

Because of the designation, the Department of Veterans Affairs is dispatching one of its top officials – Robert J. Henke, chief financial officer of the VA – to Leavenworth to deliver the National Veterans Day message.

The Leavenworth parade starts at 10:30 a.m. in the downtown area. The parade grand marshal will be Lt. Col. Grant W. Gooch, of the Iowa Air National Guard and a Leavenworth native.

Today, Ottawa will celebrate Veterans Day with a 10:45 a.m. parade downtown. Activities then will shift to Forest Park, where the afternoon will feature World War II and Civil War re-enactments.

“It seems we grow a little each year,” said Harold Mayes, chairman of the Ottawa Veterans Day Committee, noting the parade will include 170 entries.

Instead of one parade grand marshal there will be several, Mayes said.

Military veterans who want to ride in a trolley car will share the grand marshal title. Veterans from Desert Shield and Desert Storm and the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will be formally recognized.

Park visitors also can see a field of 600 American flags at the men’s softball diamond. Called the Field of Honor, it has been open 24 hours a day since Monday and will close Sunday morning. Anyone who wants to pay $30 can have a flag honor an individual veteran.

“We’ll put a ribbon on it to dedicate it to that individual and when the field closes people can come pickup the flag and the pole and display it at home,” Mayes said. “They can bring it back next year.”

Here’s a look at other area parades and events:

¢ At Kansas University, Reserve Officer Training Corps students for the Army, Navy and Marines began their traditional 24-hour vigil Friday night at the Vietnam and Korean memorials on Memorial Drive. Students from each branch are taking one-hour shifts standing guard outside each memorial. It will continue until 7 p.m. today.

¢ In Lawrence, the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign War posts will hold a ceremony Sunday at the VFW, 138 Ala. It officially starts at 11:11 a.m., which coincides with the time the armistice was signed at the end of World War I.

¢ In Baldwin City, a Veterans Day potluck dinner will be at 6:30 p.m. Sunday in the American Legion Hall, 803 High St. All veterans and their families are invited.

¢ In Shawnee, a Veterans Day celebration will take place at 4 p.m. Sunday in Veterans Memorial Park, Johnson Drive and Pflumm Road.