Veterans Day Parade slated for Saturday
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on November 8, 2017 5:50 AM
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Goldsboro's Veterans Day Parade will begin at 11 a.m. Nov. 11 in downtown Goldsboro.
The lineup will begin at 9 a.m. at the intersection of Chestnut Street and Center Street before the parade begins to roll.
It will proceed down Center Street, round the traffic circle at Ash Street, come back down Center Street, turning right on Walnut Street toward James Street before making a left onto James Street, making a left on Spruce Street to finish back on Center Street.
Kris Brewer, secretary for the Wayne County Veterans and Patriots Coalition, said in a statement that no one seems to know when and by whom the original Veterans Day parades in Goldsboro were organized.
"There have been veterans' parades in Goldsboro since the late 1920s, though not necessarily annually," Brewer said.
President Woodrow Wilson declared Nov. 11 as Veterans Day in the United States to commemorate Armistice Day in 1919. Brewer said the first local parade organizers are believed to have been part of the Wayne American Legion Post 11.
A Veterans Council was created in the early 1970s with the purpose of honoring veterans of all wars.
When the Veterans Council ceased to exist, the current Wayne County Veterans and Patriots Coalition was created in the late 1990s.
This coalition is the modern organization responsible for today's Veterans Day parades in the city.