Veterans Parade moved to Saturday

A Veterans Parade will be held in Marianna at 10 a.m. on Nov. 7, a Saturday. The parade will travel down U.S. Highway 90 (Lafayette Street).
Line-up begins at 8 a.m. on Daniels Street. There is no entry fee to be in the parade, but registration is necessary. Forms are available at the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce, or by calling Liz Huber at 526-1880. She is president of the VFW Ladies Auxiliary No. 12046, the local chapter.
This is the fifth straight year the parade has been held, and   Huber said participation is growing every year.
It’s the attendance she’s worried about.
This is the first year the parade will be held on a Saturday. She’s hoping that might make a difference, but isn’t sure it will. In years past, when the parade was held on weekdays, attendance has been sparse, she said.
“It’s disturbing to me,” Huber said, “because I don’t think there’s a family in Jackson County that hasn’t had a veteran in the family, someone who, in past or present, deserves this honor.”
She’s hoping the low attendance in the past might be because most people just can’t get away from their jobs to make the parade in the middle of the week. The idea is that the switch to Saturday will make it possible for more to turn out. 
“So many have paid the ultimate price, and those that are serving today are coming back in body bags or with terrible injuries,” Huber said. “We owe our veterans this small moment where we come out and show our appreciation to everyone who has served.”
Such a show of appreciation is particularly timely now, she said.
“We’ve got people right now, from the 144th National Guard, who are serving in Iraq. And today we have a volunteer military. If these young people care enough about our country to go and serve of their own free will,  we should really honor that and at the same time remember those who have gone before them,” Huber said. “My thing is, I want to encourage the people of Jackson County to come out and show that they care. Sometimes I wonder if they do.”
She encourages those who do come out to bring a flag to wave, and a chair to make themselves comfortable. She also encourages parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles to bring a young person who matters to them.
“Educate your child by bringing them, and explain to them that freedom is not free. Stand up proudly when our flag comes by,” she wrote in a press release about the event.
Huber also invites people to bring supplies, if they wish, for the “goodie bags” that the auxiliary will be sending to the 144th Transportation Company. The local troops have been officially adopted by the auxiliary.
On the day of the parade, residents can bring supplies to the gazebo in Confederate Park, where a box will be placed to receive the items.
The soldiers need unscented personal hygiene items, hard candy, chewing gum, playing cards, pens, notepads and other comfort items. Electrolyte packets — powders which pack a nutritional punch when added to beverages — are also in great demand.
“In every box we send, a message is put in the box,” Huber said. “I think it would be just great if we could say that some of the items in the next box we send came from the people who came out to the Veterans Parade.”
In fact, she’s hoping that the response will be so overwhelming that volunteers have to send two or three boxes, instead of one.