Sandoval to join 10,000 for Veterans Day festivities in downtown Las Vegas
Billed as “the largest veterans parade west of the Mississippi,” the annual event will kick off Wednesday in downtown Las Vegas, followed by a groundbreaking ceremony for a long-sought veterans memorial in front of the Sawyer Building.
“We have over 100 entrants including the Navy band, which is flying out from San Diego to march in the parade,” said Vietnam-era Navy veteran Dixon Keller, a member of the organizing committee.
The parade, which begins 10 a.m. Wednesday, is produced by the Veterans Action Group, a nonprofit volunteer organization.
Keller expects 10,000 spectators to line the parade route on Fourth Street between Charleston Boulevard and Ogden Avenue, making it one of the largest Veterans Day parades in the nation.
Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., himself an Army Reserve brigadier general, is the parade’s grand marshal. This year’s theme is “Save the Parade,” Keller said, noting that the major sponsors — MGM, Caesars, Humana, the USO and CBS Radio — chipped in roughly $30,000 to cover expenses for police, permits, barricades and portable toilets.
“We didn’t have any grants,” he said.
At 11 a.m. Wednesday outside the Sawyer Building, 555 E. Washington Ave., Gov. Brian Sandoval will deliver the keynote address for the veterans memorial groundbreaking.
The memorial project, launched several years ago by American Shooters, Inc., is expected to be completed by Memorial Day, May 30, according to a news release from the Nevada Department of Veterans Services.
Designed by Dutch artist Douwe Blumberg, the memorial will feature 10 statues of U.S. military personnel from the Revolutionary War to the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“The works of art will be encircled by granite walls inscribed with patriotic quotations,” according to the Veterans Services news release.
“Separately a modern, three-dimensional work portraying three soldiers in the act of rescuing a wounded comrade will stand on a base consisting of granite block. Rounding out the solid dynamic images will be a family group, placed as if viewing the three soldiers,” the release says.
Contact Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308. Find him on Twitter: @KeithRogers2.
