Veterans Day events over the weekend

Yamhill County veterans and first responders will be honored Saturday, Nov. 9, in a parade running through downtown McMinnville.

It’s one of several Veterans Day related events this weekend and early next week.

Marchers, military equipment and floats will gather at 9 a.m at the McMinnville Praise Church parking lot at Third and Irvine streets. At 10 a.m., the parade will move west on Third Street to Cowls, then run north to the Leonard DeWitt statue at Fourth and Cowls.

Cols. Carol and Larry Brown of McMinnville will be grand marshals. She was a nurse in Vietnam, and he was a helicopter pilot. They married during the war.

For more information about the parade, call organizer Angel Mendoza, at 503-434-8227.

Today and Saturday, Nov. 8-9, the Yamhill Valley Heritage Center will host a special Veterans Day event, with patriotic displays and other exhibits and activities.

The Heritage Center event will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m each day. Admission is free. Lunch is free for veterans and $6 for others.

For more information about the Heritage Center event, go to the Yamhill County Historical Society website, at yamhillcountyhistory.org.

Many businesses and churches will honor vets, as well.

Churches plan events during their regular services or, in the case of The Potter’s House Christian Fellowship, on Sunday evening.

The latter event will start at 6:30 p.m. in the church at 205 N.E. Galloway St. Music, refreshments and gifts for vets are planned.

Cascade Steel, for instance, will host an open house for veterans from 8 to 11 a.m. on Veterans Day, Monday, Nov. 11. The entrance is off Riverside Drive. For more information, call the mill at 503-472-4181.

Two local bands will perform patriotic concerts.

Second Winds, the McMinnville Community Band, will perform on Sunday, Nov. 10. The free program will start at 3 p.m. in the McMinnville Community Center.

The Linfield College Concert Band and Concert Choir will play patriotic music in “Americana and Honoring Our Nation’s Veterans,” a concert scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 12, in Ice Auditorium in Melrose Hall on campus. Admission is free.

Honor guard volunteers from McMinnville American Legion Post 21 will present flags of the armed forces as the concert opens with the “Star Spangled Banner.”

Tuesday morning, veterans are invited to attend the annual Veterans Day assembly at Patton Middle School, 19th Street and McDonald Lane in McMinnville.

The free program will start at 8:30 a.m. In addition to music and speeches by students, the event will feature a guest speaker, Master Sgt. Jerry Ward, father of Patton teacher Emily Ward Wilcox. For more information, call 503-565-4500.