Sarasota County Schools Salute Veterans

Visiting veterans, high school marching bands and Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps color guards are part of Veterans Day celebrations that feature schoolchildren from Sarasota County.

The annual Veterans Day Parade in downtown Sarasota Friday will be the highlight of the special events, followed by a patriotic ceremony at Hamel Park.

Here is a look at activities:

• Thursday, 8 a.m: Cadets from the Venice Middle School Young Marines will present a program to members of the School District Administrators organization during the SDA’s monthly meeting at Sarasota County School District headquarters, at The Landings in Sarasota.
• Thursday, 9:30-10:30 a.m: McIntosh Middle School will host a “Salute to Veterans.” Drum corps, drill teams and bagpipers from Sarasota Military Academy will perform, along with a color guard and the McIntosh Middle School band and chorus. All veterans and any current service members are welcome to attend. Veterans are asked to arrive by 9:20 a.m., park in the north parking lot and report to the gym.
• Thursday, 7 p.m: The Singing Sailors of Sarasota High School will present a free program in the SHS Theatre/Auditorium: “A Fall Veterans Salute Concert Celebrating and Honoring Our Heroes and their Families.” Guest choirs from Booker, McIntosh, Brookside and Sarasota middle schools will participate.

Veterans Day

• Friday, 8:50 a.m: Cadets from Sarasota Military Academy will assemble at the school for a veterans' recognition ceremony featuring a WWII POW/Silver Star recipient, a survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor and other military veterans. Cadets will leave for the Sarasota Veterans Day parade about 9:15 a.m. with a police escort. 
• Friday, 10 a.m: Annual Veterans Day parade starts at corner of Main Street and Osprey Avenue in downtown Sarasota. Bands and/or color guards from Booker, Sarasota and Riverview high schools will march in the parade, in addition to the Sarasota Military Academy drum line, horses, pipers, band and 850 cadets, with approximately 1,500 SMA parents wearing red, white and blue. The parade will end at J.D. Hamel Park at the western end of Main Street.
• Friday, 11 a.m.: The Veterans Day ceremony at Hamel Park in downtown Sarasota will begin with a flyover. SMA board member Col. Ben Knisley will be the featured speaker. Knisley was a medivac chopper pilot shot down in Vietnam and saved from the burning aircraft by an Army colonel just before the enemy arrived.
• Friday, 11 a.m.: The Navy Junior ROTC at North Port High will participate in the Veterans Day ceremony at Veterans Park in North Port. The annual ceremony, hosted by local VFW Post 8203 and the city of North Port, features many local veteran military organizations. North Port City Commission Chairman James Blucher will read a proclamation and a speaker will salute veterans. 
• Friday, 2:15-4:15 p.m: During the hour-long Young Marines Leadership classes at Venice Middle School, veterans will share their experiences with cadets.