ORLANDO, Fla. – Dozens of veteran and active duty military organizations, bands and ROTC teams will march through downtown Orlando Saturday morning in the annual City of Orlando Veterans Day Parade.
The city canceled the parade in 2020 because of the pandemic, so this is the first Veterans Day parade in two years.
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The opening ceremony begins at 10:45 a.m. with the parade beginning at 11 a.m. at Orange Avenue and Robinson Street. The parade route will go down Orange Avenue to Central Boulevard, across Central to Rosalind Avenue, and then up Rosalind, past the Walt Disney Amphitheater at Lake Eola.
The theme for this year’s parade is “Remembering September 11″ and the six grand marshals participating all served in the U.S. military post-9/11, one from each branch:
- Blake A. Staehr served for over 20 years as master sergeant for the Marine Corps, with many overseas deployments in countries which include Bosnia, Morocco, South Africa and Iraq.
- David G. Ladomirak served over 30 years as chief warrant officer in the U.S. Coast Guard.
- Francis J. Gault served over 31 years as lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy.
- Jose Belen is a decorated U.S. Army field artillery combat veteran who served two concurrent combat tours of duty during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
- Richard Ring is a post-9/11 combat veteran and intelligence officer for the U.S. Air Force.
- Todd L. Estes served as machinist mate weapons master chief for the U.S. Navy.
Because of the parade, several roads in the downtown area will be closed through 3 p.m. Saturday.
From 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., Orange Avenue, Amelia Street, West Concord Street, Livingston Street and Robinson Street will not be open to allow for parade staging.
Central Boulevard and Rosalind Avenue will also be closed from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., as they are part of the parade route.
For a map of all the road closures in the area, click here.