Fayetteville Veterans Day Parade Honors Native Americans Who Served

Hundreds of people are expected to attend this weekend’s Veterans Day Parade in Fayetteville, a special tradition in Cumberland County for nearly 30 years.

The parade will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday at 222 Hay St. in downtown Fayetteville. The parade will be streamed live on WRAL.com.

This year marks the 28th anniversary of the parade by the Cumberland County Veterans Council. The 2024 theme is “Native Americans Who Served.”

WRAL Fayetteville reporter Gilbert Baez, who has been the parade’s master of ceremonies for all 28 years, said the parade is full of pride, with troops from Fort Liberty, marching bands from local high schools and veterans representing all branches of the military marching proudly. down Hay Street to the sound of their own drums.

The parade’s grand marshal will be Juan Roman, a member of the Hopi tribe. Roman is an army and air force veteran.

Residents say Fayetteville is a melting pot of veterans from around the county, including Kenny Joyner, a Chicago veteran who served in the Marine Corps. He said 90% of Cumberland County residents are veterans.

“We have people from all over the world,” Joyner said. “We have people from all over Europe, you have people from Asia, people from South America, just everywhere.”

Veterans Day is Monday, November 11th.

In October, the Wake County Veterans Council decided to cancel the Veterans Day parade in Raleigh for the second year in a row.

Organizers canceled the parade for the first time in 2023 after the city of Raleigh issued new parade rules following the 2022 death of 11-year-old Haley Brooks, who was killed in the Raleigh Christmas Parade when she was struck by an out-of-control parade float truck. .

Organizers of Raleigh’s Veterans Day parade said the rules were too strict to meet the deadline.

WRAL News reached out to the city of Raleigh, which provided the following statement from a spokesperson:

“Veterans Day Parade organizers were included in this process when we established the parade rules earlier this year. We have also met with them several times in recent months. We cannot speak on their behalf about why they decided not to hold the parade. , but we can tell you that our top priority is and always will be the health, safety and well-being of our community at these events.”

In 2023, the Wake County Veterans Council did hold a ceremony in front of the State Capitol building with a band instead of a parade. This year, the Veterans Council will hold another ceremony outside the Capitol building at 11 a.m. on Nov. 9.

Wheeled vehicles are still allowed in the Fayetteville parade.