Phoenix's Veterans Day parade brings tens of thousands in attendance

Phoenix's 26th annual Veterans Day parade saw thousands in attendance to celebrate America's troops on Friday.

The parade, which started south of Bethany Home Road, at Montebello and Central avenues, was one of several Veterans Day celebrations held across the Valley.

Beginning at 11 a.m., paradegoers were treated to more than 80 entries, including extravagant handcrafted floats, marching bands, replicas and memorabilia from the Lt. Frank Luke Jr. Memorial Museum. According to organizers, as many as 45,000 people were in attendance.

The event was presented by Honoring America's Veterans, which was founded in 2011 and hosts a slew of other veteran centric events.

"It's an awesome opportunity for us to get involved in the community." Alpha Company Recruiting & Retention Battalion 1st Sgt. Robert Zapata said. "There's a lot of people out here and all for the same purpose. It's kind of inspiring to see the community come together."

Attendance was roughly about 45,000 with Central Avenue, the heart of the parade, seeing much more activity than usual, Paula Pedene told The Arizona Republic.

The overwhelming sentiment shared among those participating in the parade and those observing was that sense of community and appreciation.

"They serve for our freedom." said Adriana Duran, who had family in both the Army and Air Force. "I'm so grateful for them."

For Commander First Battalion 158th Infantry Regiment Lt. Col. Joe Mayeaux, it was his first time walking in the parade.

"I think the best part for us is to be able to here and honor veterans and walking up to the staging area and interact with all these old veterans, who are so appreciative of what we're doing and what us equally are more appreciative of the example they've set for us and kind of what they inspire us to continue to do," Mayeaux said.

It also provided him with a deeper sense of "encouragement" moving forward.

"It's encouraging for me personally because you see a lot of negative stuff in the media, so you kind of get discouraged about maybe where you think the country's at," Mayeaux said. "Then you come to events like this and you realize we're maybe not as divided as you think we are."

Reach breaking news reporter Kye Graves at klgraves@gannett.com or on Twitter @kyegraves.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Thousands come out for Veterans Day parade in Phoenix