Old Soldiers and Sailors Parade honoring veterans hits bright note in Anna Maria

Nobody can say the city of Anna Maria doesn’t know how to throw a parade.

Or how to say thank you to veterans.

The city’s first Old Soldiers and Sailors Parade on Friday afternoon brought smiles along the parade route to the faces of old and young, who were delighted by the sight of marching veterans, the sound of brassy patriotic music played by the Lakewood Ranch and Manatee high school bands, and dozens of rolling vehicles decked out in red, white and blue.

“Isn’t this great?” asked Fran Barford, a former mayor of Anna Maria who handed out bottles of water to marchers outside Roser Church. “This shows a lot of pride. It’s really been moving.”

Tom Vaught was among a platoon of veterans who hiked the entire parade route down Pine Avenue from City Hall to City Pier Park.

“I made it the whole mile,” said Vaught, maybe puffing just a little.

Joan Carter waved a large American flag as the parade passed her, and greeted marchers with “thank you, veterans.”

“I love it,” Carter said, turning to another bystander.

Mayor Dan Murphy, a Vietnam War veteran who served in the Army’s “brown water navy” in the Mekong Delta, overcame a few challenges in pulling the parade together.

“We started with a just a bagpiper, and a drummer,” he said.

Not even the loss of grand marshal state Sen. Jack Latvala, who bowed out of the event a few days before the parade after several women accused him of sexual harassment, could take the shine off Anna Maria’s tribute to veterans.

“It totally took me aback,” Murphy said, noting the size of the parade and the enthusiasm he saw along the parade route. “I am overwhelmed at the fact that we were able to attract two bands.”

Barford, who served as mayor of Anna Maria from 2004-08, had high praise for the parade.

“Dan Murphy has done a good job pulling this together,” she said.

The traditional Manatee County Veterans Council’s Veterans Day program and parade, the largest in the county, is set to begin at 11 a.m. Saturday (Nov. 11) at Sutton Park in Palmetto.

Brian Jacobs, this year’s Col. Frederick J. Graves Veteran of the Year recipient and the founder of the Vets-2-Veterans Day, will be the keynote speaker for the Veterans Day program in Palmetto.

After Jacobs’ address and other presentations, the Veterans Day parade will step out from the Manatee County Fairgrounds and make its way to Sutton Park. There will be a band performance at Sutton Park after the parade.

Also Saturday, the Sarasota Veterans’ Day parade will start at 11 a.m., running from the intersection of Main Street and Osprey Avenue, and proceeding down Main Street to J.D. Hamel Park. A ceremony honoring the contributions of women during World War II is planned for after the parade.

This story was originally published November 10, 2017 at 4:17 PM with the headline "Old Soldiers and Sailors Parade honoring veterans hits bright note in Anna Maria."