photo by: Shawn Valverde

The Veterans Day Parade gets ready to head down Massachusetts Street on Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023. The eighth annual parade hosted by the Lawrence Veterans Day Parade Association will be on Saturday, Nov. 8 at 11 a.m.

Lawrence revived its Veterans Day parade in 2017 after decades of going without, and organizers say the event has been an important way to ensure that veterans’ contributions are not forgotten.

Saturday’s 11 a.m. parade along Massachusetts Street — featuring Lawton Nuss, retired Chief Justice of Kansas, as the grand marshal — will be hosted by the Lawrence Veterans Day Parade Association. That group, along with the local Veterans Administration and American Legion, brought back the parade eight years ago after a 49-year hiatus.

The chairman of the parade association, Michael Kelly, who served 34 years in the U.S. Air Force, said an annual parade “raises the profile of veterans in the community.”

The parade features area veterans of all service branches, color guards and assorted military vehicles to celebrate the approximately 5,000 veterans in Douglas County.

photo by: Mike Yoder

American Legion Honor Guard members take part in the annual Lawrence Veterans Day Parade on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024.

While parades honor veterans, they also can provide support. Steve Rapp, a coordinator of the parade and a U.S. Air Force veteran, said the parade organization is an all-volunteer nonprofit that pays for public safety items related to the parade, such as barricades, police overtime and city permit fees. Any funds left over go directly to help veterans in Douglas County.

For example, Rapp said, the association has funded “nearly a hundred treatments” for veterans without VA dental care benefits through Heartland Health’s dental clinic.

Grand Marshal Nuss, before serving on the state’s highest court, served as a U.S. Marine Corps combat engineering officer. After his military career, he graduated from the University of Kansas’ School of Law in 1982. He was appointed to the Kansas Supreme Court in 2002 and named chief justice in 2010. In retirement, he has worked to expand veterans treatment courts, such as the one that opened last month in Douglas County.

The parade will start at South Park at 11 a.m. and proceed north up Massachusetts Street to Seventh Street.

Other events will take place across Lawrence to honor Veterans Day. On Sunday, KU Student Veterans of America and the KU Veterans Alumni Network will host the 14th annual KU Vets Day 5K, which will begin and end at the Jayhawk Welcome Center, 1266 Oread Ave., traveling by KU’s war memorials on the way. The 5K will start at 9 a.m. Those interested in running the 5K can sign up online.

On Veterans Day itself, Nov. 11, KU joint service ROTC cadets and midshipmen will conduct honor vigils at KU’s war memorial sites along Memorial Drive and its stadium from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. to recognize those who died defending the nation.

ROTC cadets will also hold an Evening Colors Ceremony at 4:30 p.m. in front of Strong Hall on Jayhawk Boulevard. The ceremony will include the posting of the colors, remarks from Chancellor Douglas A. Girod, the presentation of a ceremonial wreath and the traditional lowering of the U.S. flag at sunset.