Patriotic entries mixed with emergency vehicles, many displaying the flag as well, made up the more than 35 entries in the 10th Annual Greater Centralia Area Veterans Parade Sunday afternoon.
After an ‘unofficial’ event last year due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Veterans Committee member and the parade chair Butch Mathis were pleased to see the crowd and all the entries back.
“It was a wonderful turnout for the Tenth Annual Greater Centralia Area Veterans Parade and I want to give a tip to the hat to everybody who participated and everyone who watched. It was a wonderful, wonderful turnout and we’re excited about that and look forward to doing it again next year,’ said Mathis.
Mayor Bryan Kuder and the city council all participated as well.
“I just want to thank everyone who took the time to come out who decorated their floats, their vehicles, all the different municipalities, and the fire departments who participated in it. It gets bigger every year,” said Kuder.
The Grand Marshal of this year’s parade is the Honorable Vietnam Veteran Lance Corporal Gerald ‘Jim’ Murphy of the US Marine Corps who is also the Commander of the Centralia VFW.
“I’m very honored. It was a good parade. I knew a lot of people here. Everybody knows me better than I thought they did. I appreciate the other combat Marine veterans being out. It’s not just one person, it’s every one of us,” said Murphy.
The top winners in the Patriotic category were the Daughters of American Revolution first and the Centralia Masonic Lodge second.
The top Civic entry was the Elk’s carrying the large U.S. flag down the parade route. The Wamac Lil Toot Train, Lil American Pride was second.
The top family entry was the Henson, Smith, and Graham Family in Remembrance of Veteran Torrey Stoffel-Gray. The Bradham Family was second.
Here is a look back at the parade in pictures taken by Pat Hodges: Click on photo for larger size.
