photo by: Shawn Valverde

Veterans Day Parade participants wave to the crowd from a World War II Jeep on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025.

Thousands of area veterans were honored Saturday morning during Lawrence’s Veterans Day Parade.

Onlookers convened at 11 a.m. to see the displays, including military vehicles and the KU Marching Band, go up Massachusetts Street from South Park to Seventh Street.

photo by: Shawn Valverde

The KU Marching Band lines up for the Veterans Day Parade on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, in downtown Lawrence.

The parade came a few days ahead of the Veterans Day holiday, which is Tuesday, Nov. 11. Eleven is a significant number in the holiday because the major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 when the Armistice with Germany went into effect.

The parade celebrated all veterans of all service branches, estimated to be around 5,000 people in Douglas County.

Lawton Nuss, a veteran and the former chief justice of Kansas, was the parade’s grand marshal.

The historic Douglas County Courthouse at 11th and Massachusetts will be lit up in green through Veterans Day as part of Operation Green Light for Veterans, a program by the National Association of Counties to “let veterans know that they are seen, appreciated and supported.”

photo by: Shawn Valverde

The Blue Knights Kansas III make their way down Massachusetts Street to begin the Veterans Day Parade on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025.

photo by: Shawn Valverde

A stuffed horse sticks its head out the back of a car on Massachusetts Street during the Veterans Day Parade on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025.

photo by: Shawn Valverde

Parade participants hand out candy to spectators on Massachusetts Street on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, during the Veterans Day Parade.

photo by: Shawn Valverde

Veterans Day Parade participants hand out candy on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, in downtown Lawrence.

photo by: Shawn Valverde

A mobile memorial is part of the Veterans Day Parade on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, in downtown Lawrence.

photo by: Shawn Valverde

Scouts walk down Massachusetts Street in the Veterans Day Parade on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025.

photo by: Shawn Valverde

The KU Marching Band performs during the Veterans Day Parade on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, in downtown Lawrence.

photo by: Shawn Valverde

The KU Marching Band performs during the Veterans Day Parade on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, in downtown Lawrence.

photo by: Shawn Valverde

Spectators watch a flyover on Massachusetts Street during the Veterans Day Parade on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025.

photo by: Shawn Valverde

Members of the KU Marching Band line up on Massachusetts Street for the Veterans Day Parade on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025.