Veterans Day Parade Has New Route Through City This Year

BIRMINGHAM, AL - Birmingham hosts the oldest and longest running Veterans Day parade, and this year's parade will continue that streak, with a revised route. Starting at 1:30 p.m. Nov. 12, downtown Birmingham will be the site of the city's 70th annual Veterans Day parade, running alongside railroad Park.

The route:

• The parade will start at Richard Arrington Boulevard and 1st Ave South
• Turn Right on 3rd Avenue South
• Turn Right on 14th Street South
• Turn Right on 1st Avenue South
• The parade will end at 1st Ave South and 20th Street South

The festivities actually begin November 11 at 6:30 p.m. at the Sheraton Birmingham Ballroom, with the National Veterans Award Dinner, during which one individual is recognized as an outstanding veteran in the United States who has made the greatest contribution to further the patriotic interests of veterans and veteran organizations throughout the country.

On November 12 at 10:30 a.m., National Veterans Day in Birmingham holds a World Peace Luncheon at the Sheraton Ballroom as part of National Veterans Day observances.

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The history behind Birmingham's link to Veterans Day is a well-documented. World War II vet and Birmingham resident Raymond Weeks had an idea to expand Armistice Day to celebrate all veterans. In 1947 he led a delegation to Washington, D.C., to urge then-Army Chief of Staff General Dwight Eisenhower to create a national holiday that honored all veterans. In 1954, Eisenhower now president at this point - signed legislation establishing November 11th as Veterans Day.

President Reagan honored Weeks as the driving force for the national holiday with the Presidential Citizenship Medal in 1982 at the White House. Weeks led the first National Veterans Day Parade in 1947 in Alabama, and he continued the tradition until his passing in 1985.

Photo of Birmingham Veterans Day Parade courtesy of National Veterans Day Organization.