Porterville Stands Tall
104th annual Veterans Day Parade to be held Friday Buck Shaffer Band-a-rama to follow
This is Porterville. This is America.
Nothing demonstrates what Porterville and America is all about more than the nation’s longest running Veterans Day Parade held right here in this community. The 104th annual Porterville Veterans Parade presented by American Legion Post 20 will take place in downtown Porterville, beginning at 10 a.m. Friday, November 11, Veterans Day.
As of Tuesday afternoon there were 107 entries in this year’s parade. They will include this year’s Grand Marshal, Glen Lilly of American Legion Post 20, who will preside over the parade and the Buck Shaffer Band-a-rama that will follow the parade.
The Band-a-rama began by legendary Porterville High band director Buck Shaffer will be held at Rankin Stadium at 2 p.m.
The parade will also feature the Veterans Homecoming Queen/ Miss Porterville Briar Rose Tillery and her court, Princess Kambria Rohrbach, First Attendant Janessa Alba, Second Attendant Mariah Ruiz and Third Attendant Mia Daugherty.
The 107 entries is a significant increase over the number of entries last year in which the parade returned after not being held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Very pleased,” said
Veterans Homecoming Committee Chair Bob Atchley about this year’s number of entries. “Coming out of COVID in our second year to have 107 entries I’m just so pleased with all the people coming forward and entering the parade.”
Atchley said it means a lot to him and American Legion Post 20 members to be able to put on the parade. “It’s a big honor,” he said. “It just means a lot to me.”
This year’s parade as was last year’s parade will again be televised by KSEE Channel 24, beginning at 10 a.m.
The day’s events will begin with the Veterans Day Run and Walk that will take place downtown prior to the parade at 7:30 event, featuring the 5K and 10K run and walks.
This year’s parade will also have a special tribute before the parade as a way to say thank you to all who have served in the Armed Forces. The City of Portervlle has partnered with Skydive Elsinore, SDE, to provide the special tribute.
Jay Stokes, an SDE military trainer, will perform a skydive, landing on Main Street. SDE has been operating since 1959 and has a training facility in Porterville, which is a registered drop zone utilized exclusively for military airborne training and is cleared by the U.S. Special Operations Command for military parachuting.
The 104th annual Porterville Veterans Day Parade presented by American Legion Post 20 will again be televised by KSEE Channel 24 and will feature a special skydiving tribute before the parade begins.
The parade will be held at 10 a.m. on Friday, November 11, Veterans Day, in downtown Porterville. The annual Veterans Day Run and Walk will also take place prior to the parade at 7:30 a.m., featuring the 5K and 10K run and walks.
As it did last year KSEE24 will broadcast the parade beginning at 10 a.m. “The City of Porterville is proud to be part of such a patriotic community, which continuously pays tribute to its Veterans, making the Porterville Veterans parade one of the largest in the Central Valley and the longest-running in the country,” the city stated.
Right before the parade begins Stokes will land with a 2,500-square foot American flag in front of City Hall. Stokes is a veteran of the United States Army Special Forces and has performed more than 27,000 jumps.
When asked if he was looking forward to Stokes’ performance, Atchley said, Very much so.”
And of course the parade will stop at 11 a.m. in which a horn will sound to acknowledge the end of World War I.
BAND-A-RAMA This year there are 12 middle school and high school bands participating in the event. Each band will march into the stadium performing a march they have prepared for the event and will take their place on the field.
After all the bands are on the field retired Porterville High Band Director Jim Kusserow will lead all the bands en masse as they will perform patriotic music to honor veterans and as thank you for their service.
As Kusserow took the baton from Shaffer in following him as the Porterville Panther Band Director, Kusserow has also taken the baton from Shaffer to direct at the bands at the Band-a-rama.
Following the massed band performance, the Granite Hills Grizzly, Monache Marauder, and Porterville Panther Marching Bands will perform their field shows.
Admittance to the Band-a-rama is free. Donations will be collected for veterans.
The show is dedicated to service men and women who have served the country or are currently serving the country.
At 2 p.m. the American Legion Post 20 Color Guard will lead Boy Scout Troop No. 132 under advisor Don Valdez in the carrying of the American flag around the track, stopping in front of the grandstands for the Pledge of Allegiance led by Master of Ceremonies Brent Gill. Then the parade of bands will begin.
After that the invocation will be offered by First Congregational Church Pastor Cheri Taylor, followed by Kusserow directing all the bands in their performance.
During the performance nearly 70 majorettes and baton twirlers from all the bands will be featured as the bands play the U.S. Navy’s “Anchors Aweigh” and the Marine Hymn. More than 1,000 students will be featured in the performance.
There are numerous bands under the direction of band directors who are local high school graduates who will be featured. They include Porterville High graduates Jim Kusserow, Nicholas Walters, the director of the Strathmore High Band, and PHS Band Director Clark Keele; Monache graduates, Monache band director Justin Adams, Strathmore Middle School Band Director George Baker, Summit Collegiate High School band director Donna Steigleder and Woodville School band director John Rodriguez; and Granite Hills High graduate, Burton Middle School band director Jack Amaral.