The Portland Veterans Day Parade will not take place Tuesday, Nov. 11, in Northeast Portland’s King neighborhood because of a lack of funding, organizer Napoleon Hodgers said.
“The Veterans Day parade was not canceled due to any ideological or political reason or fear for public safety,” he said, adding that the volunteer planning team is asking for support to put on a parade to honor military veterans in 2026.
Individual donations, as well as business and corporate sponsors are needed to stage the parade that travels about a mile, from Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard at North Beech Street to Northeast Emerson Street.
Volunteers are also welcome to join the planning team, which meets virtually an hour a week starting in January.
“We are always looking for new ideas and energy to make the parade better each year,” said Hodgers.
Hodgers, a military veteran, revived the parade tradition in 2022 after the 46-year-old Veterans Day parade in Northeast Portland’s Hollywood District ended in 2020 due to the pandemic and lost its main sponsor in 2021.
Hodgers and volunteers have organized a parade in 2022, 2023 and 2024, and he asks people to support the 2026 parade through fundraising and grant writing, and by spreading the word.
He also hopes people will sign up at VeteransDayPortland.org to walk in the parade. “It’s free,” he said.
Hodgers said the major benefit of a Veterans Day parade is the sense of community it brings to Portland.
Participants and onlookers show up to support military veterans and appreciate their sacrifices, he said.
“Even with all of the social and political tensions that are ever present, seemingly dividing our nation, this is not present on Veterans Day,” he said.
Dean Armstrong of the Native American Cultural Association of Oregon and co-director of the Native American Honor Guard has participated in the King neighborhood parade for all three years.
The honor guard leads the parade and is part of the closing ceremony at the Walnut Park complex parking lot, 5305 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. A vendor and resources fair there starts immediately after the parade.
Hodgers is the commander of the National Association for Black Veterans in Portland, and served two years in the Army National Guard, 10 years of active duty in the U.S. Marine Corps and two years in the Air Force Reserve.
In October 2021, Hodgers heard the Hollywood District Veterans Day parade had been permanently canceled, and “as a veteran and an Army brat, this did not sit well with me,” he said. “This was too important to our community and to our veterans to let the Veterans Day parade just fade away.”
He asked people to volunteer to work on the planning team in January 2022 and 10 months later, the parade debuted in the King neighborhood.
“We had no money, sponsors, resources or experience, but we were committed to bringing the Veterans Day parade back in 2022,” he said.
Parade fundraising was successful for three years. Then, in 2025, the parade had no sponsors due to economic uncertainty, Hodgers said, and the group lost a key volunteer.
“If we had our funding in place, we could have avoided canceling the parade,” he said.
Communities around the U.S. have held parades celebrating military veterans on Nov. 11 since the first Armistice Day in 1919.
“Honestly, it hurts to have to cancel the Veterans Day parade,” Hodgers said.
For more information, visit VeteransDayPortland.org or email [email protected].
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.