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Ponchatoula to host inaugural Tangipahoa Parish Veterans Day parade on Nov. 1
Summary
School system staff and community organizers described plans for a Nov. 1 Veterans Day parade in Ponchatoula that will include student participation, a vendor fair with about 50 resource partners, a tribute wall, veterans interviews and live music from World War II–era performers.
Ponchatoula will host the first countywide Veterans Day parade and celebration for Tangipahoa Parish on Saturday, Nov. 1, beginning at 9:30 a.m., organizers told the Tangipahoa Parish School Board.
School system staff member Miss Drader, who presented the item during the board's Sept. 16 meeting, said the event — organized by the Ponchatoula Celebrates Veterans committee — will route down Main Street from the Ponchatoula Lions Club to Memorial Park and include roughly 50 vendors offering services and resources to veterans.
The event matters because it is the first parade billed as a parishwide Veterans Day celebration and because schools will be actively involved, Drader said. “We will have a tribute wall, a classic car show, live entertainment, and we’re going to begin of course with a military ceremony,” she told the board.
Organizers plan student-focused activities: a door- or bulletin-board decorating contest judged by veterans; art students producing banners to distribute to parade spectators; a flag-raising ceremony the morning of the event with 50 flags placed at Ponchatoula Cemetery at 8 a.m. and a 70-foot flag raised downtown at 8:30 a.m.; a “meet a veteran” tent for interviews; and a scavenger-hunt-style activity encouraging students to speak with veterans. James Antoon was identified as the staff lead for students working on digital and social media promotions.
Drader said the parade will include school bands and JROTC, and that local organizations — including the Tangipahoa Parish Library, the Tangipahoa African American Heritage Museum & Veteran Archives and North Oaks — have agreed to participate. The program will also feature performers connected to the World War II Museum and a 20-piece orchestra playing big-band-era music.
George VanZant, introduced at the meeting as the parade’s grand marshal and identified as a World War II veteran, told the board he would support the event. “I will do everything in my ability to make it come out the way she wants to come out in a way to honor everybody in this parish,” VanZant said.
Organizers asked the district to encourage school participation; Drader said she had been working with President Tom Toller to coordinate military units and school involvement. The board did not take formal action on the presentation.
Organizers left flyers for board members and asked the district to publicize the event to families and students ahead of Nov. 1.
Looking ahead: planners expect the parade to replicate aspects of the Strawberry Festival route and to be a recurring, parishwide Veterans Day observance if the inaugural event proceeds as described.
