Flags, slogans, candy, politicians and political candidates — everything but a marching band — were in line Thursday morning for the Veterans Day Parade in the City of Vision.
Deputy Mayor Bob Tyler was applauded later at the Veterans Day ceremony at Veterans Monument Park when he noted the parade route had returned along Southern Boulevard for the first time in three years.
The first of 31 entries stepped off shortly after 10 a.m., led by several Rio Rancho Police motorcycles. The last parade entry turned off Country Club Drive to Southern about 25 minutes later, as the parade went east on Southern to Pinetree, and broke up in the parking lot near the post office.
To read more about the parade, pick up a copy of Sunday’s Observer.
Descriptions for each photo are listed below, starting with the first one on the screen:
__________________________________________________
Rio Rancho resident Brian Skupa, a member of the Roadrunner Convoy organization, drove his AM General M1038 Humvee in the City of Vision’s Veterans Day parade on Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021. He served 20 years in the U.S. Air Force.
Carl Ferris, 91, rode in the Veterans Day parade on Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021, and was feted at the celebration at Veterans Monument Park following the parade. He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1948 and served in Korea, seeing action at the Chosin reservoir, a 16-day battle in which troops on both sides fought minus-45 degree temperatures.
Rio Rancho Deputy Mayor Bob Tyler, pinch-hitting at the veterans Day festivities for the mayor, hands out flags to spectators along the route during the City of Vision’s Veterans Day parade on Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021.
What would a Veterans Day Parade be without military vehicles? Probably just another parade.
Members of Cub Scout Pack 409 wave to spectators along Southern Boulevard on Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021.
The Republican Party of Sandoval County, among 31 parade entries, was awarded first place for this float at the parade on Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021.
A car owned by 66 Cuts Rio Barbershop displays a message of “Home of the free because of the brave” during the City of Vision’s Veterans Day parade on Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021.
A young student of Master Jim’s Taekwondo After School Program breaks a board, held by the master, on Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021.
Youngsters wave their flags as another entry approaches along Southern Boulevard on Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021.
Rio Rancho Army veteran Verne Lucero has a patriotic new scooter and way of getting himself and his dog, Rosita, around during the City of Vision’s Veterans Day parade on Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021.
__________________________________________________
Photos by Rio Rancho Observer staff writer Gary Herron.
