Birmingham salutes Vets at America’s oldest Veterans Day Parade

The Magic City proudly held the 79th Annual National Veterans Day Parade on Wednesday, November 11, 2026 in Downtown Birmingham.

Birmingham is home to America’s oldest continuous and largest Veterans Day parade. The first parade was organized in 1947 by Birmingham resident Raymond Weeks, a World War II veteran, who led the national effort to create a national holiday honoring veterans.

Thanks to Weeks and that first Veterans Day parade nearly eight decades ago, Birmingham today is often called the birthplace of Veterans Day.

Veterans Day 2026

This year’s 2026 Veterans Day parade was blessed with perfect parade weather – partly cloudy skies and temps in the 70s.

Some of this year’s highlights included:

• Alabama School for the Blind Marching Band: It is one of the only high school bands in the U.S. that marches in parades
• U.S. Coast Guard: The new training facility opened this year at the former campus of Birmingham-Southern College
• Local high school bands and cadets from military schools throughout Alabama
• Vintage airplane flyovers: World War II planes flew near Birmingham’s skyscrapers
• Birmingham Police motorcyclists
• And much more

79th Annual National Veterans Day Parade 2026 Photo Gallery

Just in case you missed it, below are photos from the 2026 National Veterans Day Parade here in Birmingham.

Did you go to the 79th Annual National Veterans Day Parade in Birmingham? Share your photos by tagging us on social media @bhamnow