The country prepared Friday for a weekend of events honoring those who wore the uniform, culminating in the celebration of Veterans Day on Nov. 11, but some parades were canceled due to weather, safety concerns or a lack of interest.

Traditional Veterans Day parades are making a comeback since many were canceled during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Colorado Veterans Project and the city of Denver announced Thursday that the 11th annual Denver Veterans Day Parade was canceled due to snow.

For the second year, the Veterans Day Parade in Raleigh, North Carolina, was canceled after organizers could not agree on traffic restrictions imposed after a young girl was killed in a car crash during the 2022 parade.

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The Rolla Chamber of Commerce in Rolla, Missouri, announced Thursday that the “low number of parade participants” had forced the decision to cancel the Veterans Appreciation Parade, which was scheduled for Saturday.

For the third time in five years, the annual Fort Myers, Florida, Veterans Day Parade had to be canceled. Tony Neal, commander of American Legion Rabe O. Wilkison Post 38, told the Fort Myers News-Press that recent hurricanes made it impossible to organize the parade.

Despite occasional cancellations, hundreds of other parades, concerts and other activities took place across the country throughout the weekend and on Veterans Day to honor the nation’s approximately 18 million veterans.

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Some events had a theme in addition to their main purpose of honoring veterans. California’s Veterans Day Ceremony at the California State Capitol in Sacramento on Monday will feature a parade as well as speakers focusing on mental health awareness.

In Hawaii, the Oahu Veterans Council organized a ceremony Monday that included a wreath-laying ceremony, a gun salute and a hula dance.

In Bellville, Ohio, the Legion Family of American Legion Post 535 will go to a local nursing home to visit veterans living there and provide food care packages to veterans in need.

In Washington, D.C., the nonprofit National Veterans Parade Foundation organized a parade along Constitution Avenue on Sunday, which will also feature the U.S. Marine Drum and Bugle Corps and Howard University’s marching band.

In Manhattan, the parade, organized by the United War Veterans Council and billed as the nation’s largest, was expected to include nearly 300 marching and vehicular units and as many as 20,000 demonstrators.

All parades and other activities were intended to give honor and appreciation to those who served in the military and “made the light of freedom shine brightly throughout the world.” Just as they have maintained the ultimate faith in our nation, we must maintain the ultimate faith in our nation. believe in them,” President Joe Biden said in his White House proclamation issued Wednesday to mark Veterans Day 2024.

In keeping with Biden’s statement, the modest dog tag was chosen this year to represent the shared identity of generations of service members who put duty to country first.

The Department of Veterans Affairs National Veterans Day Committee has selected a design for the national Veterans Day poster created by former Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Myisha Godette wearing dog tags symbolizing the theme of this year’s celebration: “A Legacy of Loyalty and Service.”

“Ultimately, I chose to symbolize the shared experience of military personnel – past, present and future – with elements such as the American flag, military dog ​​tags and the enduring strength of veterans, embodied by a solid, dark concrete background in my design ” Godette said in a Veterans Affairs news release.

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