Since 1997
About the parade
The Waynesville-St. Robert Area Chamber of Commerce has organized the Veterans’ Day Ceremony and Parade since 1997, taking it over from Virgie Mahan, who led it from 1984, and from the veteran organizations before her. In 2026 the cities of Waynesville and St. Robert became the hosts, with the Chamber continuing to select the Veteran of the Year and to lead the Poppy Project, and every honoree since 2000 scrolls across the top of this site.
Why November 11
The fighting of the First World War stopped at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, and a year later President Wilson proclaimed the first Armistice Day, which was meant to be a day of parades, public meetings, and a brief pause in business at 11:00 a.m. Congress made November 11 a legal holiday in 1938.
In 1954, after the Second World War and Korea, Congress replaced the word Armistice with Veterans, and President Eisenhower issued the first Veterans Day proclamation so that the day would honor American veterans of every war. A 1968 law moved the observance to a Monday for a few years, but the country did not take to it, and in 1978 Veterans Day returned to November 11 for good, whatever day of the week it falls on.
That is why our ceremony begins at 11:00 a.m. on parade day, and why the War Bell rings once for each war as its name is read.
Nominate a veteran
Nominations open each summer through the Chamber, and the honoree is announced in September and rides as Parade Marshal.
The Poppy Project
Our community art project of remembrance blankets the Roubidoux Bridge in downtown Waynesville with hand knitted and crocheted poppies during the parade and decorates the ceremony stage, and although the first year’s goal was 4,000 poppies, the community made 6,351. The project grows every year and is led by Chamber volunteers.