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VETERANS DAY PARADE MAY RETURN TO
LAKE WORTH, FLORIDA -- "For me, the motivation
is to see the vets get their day."
For more about the Lake Worth Veterans Day
parade, use the VA Watchdog search engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/
sessearch.php?q=lake+w
orth+parade&op=and
Story here...
http://www.palmbeach
post.com/localnews/content/local_
news/epaper/2007/10/05/1
005vetsparade.html
Story below:
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Veterans Day parade may return to Lake Worth
By Tim O'Meilia
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Lake Worth -- The Veterans Day parade may march down Lake Avenue after
all.
A Vietnam veteran, a construction consultant and Delray Beach's garlic
festival organizer have formed a non-profit group and seeded it with
$12,000 to save the 9-year-old parade that has snaked through downtown
Lake Worth streets for four/five years.
The group, Palm Beach Veterans Day Parade, Inc., already has approached
city officials to arrange permits and determine costs.
"For me, the motivation is to see the vets get their day," said Lake
Worth resident Ed Grimm, one of the organizers.
The parade would begin at 11 a.m. Nov. 10, a Saturday, and end at Bryant
Park where American Legion official David Knapp is organizing a separate
celebration with speeches, entertainment and food.
The annual parade was cancelled because Lake Worth could no longer
afford the $20,000 cost in light of budget cuts caused by state-required
property tax revenue reductions.
Lake Worth Mayor Jeff Clemens welcomed the effort. "This is a dream come
true - people banding together to do something useful for the community.
Sun Title owner Frank McAlonan, a Vietnam vet, has put up $12,000 to get
the event started. "Frank saw it as an injustice," said Darlene Krause,
president of Sun Title. "He decided he was just going to pony up."
McAlonan was out of the country Friday.
"Nothing happens til you the money," said Bern Ryan, owner of Delray
Beach Arts Inc. and the organizer of the annual Garlic Festival.
Grimm said the three discussed the difficulties of putting the parade
together in five weeks, but decided it could be done. "We're a little
bit late but we know vets group will be glad to march," Ryan said, and
he's heard from other groups as well.
Besides the garlic festival, Ryan has helped run operations or food
service at SunFest, the Honda Classic and other festivals.
"Regardless of your political affiliation, you've got to thank these
guys for risking their lives of their country," Ryan said.
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Larry Scott --
