Colorado Springs Veterans’ Day Parade

In 1999, a small group of patriotic volunteers formed a non profit organization to host an annual Colorado Springs Veterans’ Day Parade. Their mission is simple: To honor all veterans. To educate and inspire community awareness while paying tribute to the service and sacrifices all veterans have endured in the pursuit of freedom. In just this short time, the parade has grown to be one of the biggest and best in the United States. This has only been possible because of the work of hundreds of community volunteers and the generous financial support of the local business community which covers all the parade’s costs. They have rekindled a great tradition where veterans are enthusiastically cheered as they walk down Tejon Street in Colorado Springs.

For that reason, and because we encourage participation by all veterans, including those who are not members of a formal organization, veterans come from all of southern Colorado to participate in the parade. In addition to presenting the parade, the board works diligently to educate children of all ages on the sacrifices our military veterans have made. Theye encourage kids to participate in or attend the parade as a way of saying thank you to our veterans.

In 2004, over 600 Boy and Girl Scouts marched or assisted with the parade; seven high schools built patriotic floats for the parade and eight high school bands played a musical tribute to our veterans. they also had approximately 40,000 spectators at the parade; many of these were children with their families, so it appears their efforts to educate today’s youth are paying off.