For the fifteenth straight year Galesburg will honor Veterans with a parade downtown on Sunday.
Organizer Ryan Hummel says like past years, the parade begins on Main and Chambers streets. It will turn left onto Cherry Street and finish at the Knox County Courthouse.
Grand Marshal of the parade this year is Abingdon Police Officer and U.S. Navy Retiree Chris Spears who will be joined by his dog Rossi. The duo were reunited earlier this year after serving separately.
Hummel tells WGIL that Spears and Rossi were chosen to honor a new kind of Veteran.
“I just thought it was a phenomenal idea to actually showcase a younger veteran,” Hummel says. “We tried to do a different conflict every year. We started that theme five or six years ago and focused on World War II veterans with the honor flight. We then moved on to the Korean War, Vietnam War, and Desert Storm. This year we’re going to have an Afghan conflict veteran. Just the unique story of being reconnected with his service dog we thought it was a very neat, hometown touching story.”
As of Tuesday, Hummel said there had been nearly 60 entries for the parade. Three high school bands, and multiple National Guard units are included in that number. The parade takes off at 2 p.m. with lineup starting around 1.
