Anthem parade will honor vets

by Betty Reid – Nov. 9, 2011 08:16 AM

The Arizona Republic

The seventh north Valley Veterans Day parade is scheduled in Anthem at 10 a.m. Saturday.

The seventh annual Daisy Mountain Veterans Day Parade moves north on Gavilan Peak Parkway, darts east on Anthem Way, winds south on Freedom Way and ends at the Anthem Community Center. Parade officials expect a large turnout this year because the parade was designated an Official Arizona Centennial Event and it is scheduled one day after the dedication of the Anthem Veterans Memorial on Friday.

The parade attracted approximately 15,000 in 2010. The parade has about 90 entries that include the Boulder Creek High School marching band and 108th U.S. Army Band.

“The theme for this year’s parade is Arizona History in keeping with the centennial celebration,” said Jim Oliveri, a Daisy Mountain Veterans Day Parade spokesman.

Thus, the parade has a lineup of historical groups serving as honorary grand marshals, including the Navajo Code Talkers, the Buffalo Soldiers, the Arizona Rough Riders, the Pioneer Living Museum, the Pony Express and Bob Boze Bell, editor of True West Magazine.

The parade will have a 35-foot scale model of the battleship Arizona, a model of the Iwo Jima Memorial, a model of the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor and numerous other floats.

Military aircraft and vehicles will be available for public inspection.

Oliveri said the parade is usually scheduled on the first Saturday in November. This year with the Anthem Veterans Memorial being dedicated Friday, parade officials switched the date to the second Saturday in order to host a “Veterans Weekend” in conjunction with the dedication, he said.

The parade was started by Mary Ann Derryberry in 2005.

Information: www.daisymtnvets.org