Early Birds Donate to Save Veterans Day Parade

By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

The Chiefland Veterans Day Parade will happen on Nov. 11 thanks to four generous donors.

Chiefland City Manager Mary Ellzey said she received the full $200 in donations needed to make the parade happen by 5:48 a.m. today.

Ellzey talked to the Chiefland City Commission Monday about possibly cancelling the parade because the city hadn’t received the required $250 from veterans groups to pay for road closure fees. She needed an additional $200.

Spotlight reported the issue in story the Monday night.

The donors wish to remain anonymous.

City police block off side streets and U.S. 19 to keep the highway free of traffic while the parade takes place. The road blocking fee is $250.

Ellzey contacted a couple of veterans this morning to let them know the good news.

“I called a couple of veteran contacts and they were appreciative. I said we have the money. We’re going to have the parade,” she said. “I knew we were going to have it; it was the principle we need to have this thing paid. I know they were trying to put it together.”

Ellzey said veteran Cary Colson of Chiefland and Levy County Veterans Service Officer Robert Lowyns in Bronson will contact veterans’ posts to let them know the parade is a go.

Veterans’ groups and veterans’ supporters build patriotic floats for the Veterans Day Parade. The parade rotates between cities in Levy County annually.

Ellzey is confident the parade will turn out well.

“Whatever it is, it will be good,” she said.

COVID-19 shut down all the bars and veterans’ posts earlier this year and may have cut into their revenues. The governor has reopened all the bars and veterans posts.

Veterans’ posts are important gathering spots for vets to socialize. The annual Veterans Day Parade is a way for Levy County communities to show veterans they care about them and the sacrifices they made for this country.

Their sacrifices are enormous.

————–

Archive Photos from November 19, 2015, Levy County Journal Chiefland Veterans Day Parade Photos