8th Annual Howard County Veterans Day Parade, Celebration Sunday

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — Recognize and honor area veterans at the 8th annual Howard County Veterans Day Celebration Sunday starting with a parade at 9:30 a.m. A ceremony will take place at 11 a.m. at Lake Kittamaqundi.

The parade route will be from Merriweather Drive to Little Patuxent Parkway to Lake Kittamaqundi near the Whole Foods parking lot. Event organizers noted that Mt. Hebron and Long Reach high school marching bands will be in the parade along with JROTC units from Atholton, Howard and Oakland Mills high school. Other school groups, veterans, military vehicles, Cub Scouts, Brownies, Boy Scouts and community leaders will march in the parade.

The Howard County Veterans Foundation along with the Veterans Day Parade and Ceremony Planning Committee has named Topaz Navarro grand marshal of the 2022 Howard County Veterans Day Parade.

“For this year’s parade, the theme is ‘honor through service.’ Topaz certainly represents the theme. With his commitment to helping, veterans who struggle with PTSD and other mental health concerns have a friend in Topaz,” said Robert Gillette, president of the Howard County Veterans Foundation.

Navarro is a retired sergeant major and decorated combat veteran with more than 27 years of service to the U.S. Army and special operations. During the course of his career, Navarro served in every position from team sergeant to troop sergeant major while conducting deployments to the Middle East and North Africa.

He currently serves as vice president of the Howard County board of directors for the National Alliance on Mental Illness and facilitates the alliance’s Connections Veterans Peer Support Group, a free peer-to-peer support group for veterans living with mental illness. Navarro sits on additional councils and boards that raise awareness and provide support to military veterans and active duty servicemembers, including the Work Play Obsession All In Foundation, National Association of Minority Veterans and Howard County Local Health Improvement Coalition.
The Howard County Veterans Day Parade, which starts at 9:30 a.m. Nov. 13 in Columbia’s Merriweather District, will honor all branches of the U.S. military, the National Guard, first responders and their families. As grand marshal, Navarro will be recognized at the parade and lakefront ceremony.