Veterans Day Parade Set for Friday, Nov. 10, 2017

Communications Director

Kristin Farley
[email protected]
(865) 215-2589

400 Main St., Room 691
Knoxville, TN 37902

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Veterans Day Parade Set for Friday, Nov. 10, 2017

Posted: 11/01/2017
Veteran's Day ParadeKnoxville’s 92nd annual Veterans Day Parade will honor the service of U.S. military veterans in downtown on the morning of Friday, Nov. 10.

The parade will line up in the eastbound lanes of Howard H. Baker Jr. Avenue, with the step-off at 10:45 a.m. in front of the Knoxville Civic Auditorium. The parade route follows Howard Baker Avenue to Church Avenue, turns right on Gay Street and continues to the intersection with Magnolia Avenue.

At 11 a.m., the procession will halt at the reviewing stand located near Mast General Store and perform a brief ceremony for attending veterans who served in the U.S. Armed Forces in all our nation’s wars. Knoxville Police Department’s Honor Guard will fire a 21-gun salute, and a vintage fighter aircraft from the Tennessee Museum of Aviation will fly overhead. 

Led by the University of Tennessee Army ROTC Color Guard, the parade includes several marching bands from area high schools. The U.S. Navy Band from Norfolk, Va., will have a prominent position near the front of the parade. The band requested to be included in Knoxville’s longtime event after seeing an article on vacation rental website Tripping.com that lists Knoxville’s Veterans Day Parade as among the 10 best in the country.

This year’s Grand Marshal is Furman Swanson, a 98-year-old World War II veteran, who drove amphibious duck boats to deliver supplies during battles on Utah Beach and other episodes of combat during the war. 

American Legion Post 2 organizes the parade with support from the City of Knoxville. The parade will be broadcast live on WATE Channel 6, WBIR Channel 10 and streamed on WBIR.com. 

Downtown drivers can anticipate some road closures and temporary no-parking zones. 

At 9 a.m., Market Street between Union and Clinch avenues and Union between Walnut and Gay streets will close. There also will be some temporary no-parking zones along sections of Church Avenue, Gay Street, Wall Avenue, Market Street and Union Avenue. Parking is prohibited on Gay Street beginning at 9 a.m.; cars on the street prior to that time will be towed. Gay Street will close to traffic at 10:30 a.m.

In addition to the parade, military veterans will be honored with red, white and blue decorative deck lights on the Henley Bridge on the nights of Nov. 11 and 12.