Downtown Las Vegas is set to spend Veterans Day morning on Fourth Street, where the annual parade is scheduled from 10 a.m. to noon between Garces Avenue and Stewart Avenue.
The nonprofit Veterans Action Group is running the procession, with a 9:30 a.m. opening ceremony and a flyover timed to the start. Spectators were told to bring folding chairs. Drivers got two different closure windows to plan around. Las Vegas Review-Journal reporting put the start at Fourth and Garces at 10 a.m. and the end at Fourth and Stewart, with the flyover at 10 a.m. to kick the parade off.
Ceremony, Flyover And Who Is Marching
Veterans Action Group lists the opening ceremony for 9:30 a.m. at Fourth Street and Ogden Avenue. FOX5 reported that the ceremony includes the national anthem at the grandstand. Event materials describe the flyover as a tribute to people who served.
The lineup is built for more than a single color guard. Planned entries include veteran service organizations and veterans groups, active-duty and reserve units, Nevada National Guard members, first responders, ROTC and JROTC, marching bands, drill teams, scouting clubs, dance schools, youth groups, car clubs, motorcycle clubs, businesses, and casinos and hotels. The Review-Journal grouped the field as veterans organizations, military units, first responders, bands, dance schools, car clubs and more.
Registration is available on parade day at check-in for a 20% late fee, so latecomers can still try to join the procession.
Chairs, Parking And A Closure Split
Organizer guidance welcomes portable folding chairs anywhere along the route between Garces and Stewart. Metered street parking and garages along the route are the stated options, and downtown parking locations carry fees.
FOX5 listed five paid spots: City Hall's garage at 500 S. Main St. at Clark Avenue; the Lewis Street garage at 321 S. Casino Center Blvd. at Lewis Avenue; the Carson Street lot at 200 S. Las Vegas Blvd. at Carson Avenue; the Fremont Street Experience garage at 111 S. Fourth St. at Carson Avenue; and the Neonopolis underground garage at 179 N. Fourth St. at Ogden Avenue. The last of those sits at the ceremony corner, which is convenient until the streets around it shut.
The hours are the messy part. FOX5's Nov. 3 report said closures would run from 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. and named a wider map: Third Street between Charleston Boulevard and Garces Avenue, including Coolidge, Hoover, Gass and Garces; Fourth Street between Charleston and Stewart, including Coolidge, Hoover, Gass, Garces, Bonneville, Clark, Lewis, Bridger, Carson and Ogden; and Fourth Street and Las Vegas Boulevard South up to Charleston.
A Downtown Fixture, With One Missed Year
The Review-Journal describes the parade as a yearly Las Vegas event since 1994, skipped in 2020 because of the pandemic. Organizers bill it as the largest Veterans Day parade west of the Mississippi. That is their characterization, not a ranking established by an independent count in the available reporting.
Earlier coverage shows the same nonprofit and the same basic clock. One prior procession was described as the 29th annual and was scheduled from 10 a.m. to noon, with more than 100 groups expected to march or ride floats from Garces to Stewart. 8 News Now reported that thousands lined downtown streets for a previous parade. None of that is a 2026 head count. This year's participant total and attendance were not established in advance.
The footprint has not always been this stretch of Fourth. A 2018 City of Las Vegas bulletin scheduled that year's parade for Fourth Street between Gass and Ogden, with closures beginning at 6 a.m. for a 10 a.m. start. Today's planned route runs farther, from Garces up to Stewart.
No Candy From The Floats
One rule will disappoint anyone waiting for a toss. Veterans Action Group says participants may not throw candy or promotional items from moving vehicles or while marching or walking. That is an event rule from the organizer, not a citation of a separate statute.
The practical picture for this morning is a two-hour procession after a 9:30 a.m. ceremony, a 10 a.m. flyover, chairs along Fourth between Garces and Stewart, paid garages a few blocks off the route, and street closures that local outlets timed differently. Whether the flyover, ceremony and closures run exactly as scheduled was not independently confirmed in the advance reporting.
