On Saturday, Nov. 7, Brooklyn saw not one, but two Veterans Appreciation Parades. Originally one parade, the 8th Annual Veterans Appreciation Parade & Resource Fair and the Brooklyn Veterans Appreciation Parade took different routes through Central Brooklyn.
An organizer said there is room for everyone to acknowledge veterans.
The parades began in 2019 under Brooklyn Community Boards 3 and 16, and the Veterans Action Group Buffalo Soldiers of America. After COVID put the parade on pause, it returned in 2022. It split into two parades the following year, after VAGBSA CEO Christopher James and the community boards disagreed on a new route.
A split in marching routes, however, did not compromise their unified mission.
"It is not about competing with another parade," said Cleopatra Brown, founder of the Veterans Appreciation Parade & Resource Fair, and the chair of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee for Brooklyn Community Board 16. "It is about honoring our veterans, connecting them and their families with essential resources and bringing our neighborhoods together in a spirit of unity, gratitude and service."
According to Taylor Barbuto, one of the organizers, James wanted to made a parade that traveled down one of the main roads in Brooklyn: Eastern Parkway. "Officially dubbed the Brooklyn Veterans Appreciation Parade to emphasize its focus on all of the veterans in Brooklyn and their sacrifices," Barbuto said.
Both parades started marching at noon on Saturday. The Veterans Appreciation Parade began in front of the Bright Light Baptist Church on Park Place in Ocean Hill before marching down Ralph Avenue and onto Fulton Street and ending at PS 93 near Herkimer Street and Atlantic Avenue, where its free resource fair for veterans and their families was open to the public.
The Brooklyn Veterans Appreciation Parade began at Rogers Avenue onto Eastern Parkway before ending at Grand Army Plaza. A resource fair was also planned but will be rescheduled due to threats of rain.
Both parades included community leaders, veteran groups, school marching bands, Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps and dance troupes. The Veterans Appreciation Parade was led by the Steel Horses Motorcycle Club, with its President, Earl Williams, who served in the Navy before retiring in 1988. He said he was participating because of the importance of serving one's country.
"Its a forgotten holiday," Wiliams said. "It's in the midweek. A lot of people don't like to serve anymore."
Another veteran, Wish Williams from East Flatbush, who served in the Army infantry during the Cold War, came to support fellow veterans.
"They need to know they're not alone," he said. "They're not alone when it comes to mental health and the chaos of the military."
This year has been eventful for the US military service members, from the war in Iran to Black and women military officers being blocked from promotions by Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth. When asked about those issues, Williams did not directly acknowledge them, but explained that veterans need support, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.
As the Veterans Appreciation Parade went through Central Brooklyn, residents poked their heads out of their homes and stores to cheer or applaud for the parade. The number of those watching was scant, but the pride for the veterans was clear.
"At the end of the day," Brown said, "regardless of how many parades Brooklyn has, what matters most is that our veterans receive the recognition, respect, support and resources they have earned and deserve."
