After a nearly six-year hiatus, the Springfield Veterans Day Parade is back.
The public procession will return at 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 9 — two days before Veterans Day — and twist through the downtown. It will start on East Trafficway Street in front of the Jordan Valley Ice Park.
Lori Rook, attorney and managing partner of Ozarks Elder Law, said she heard concern about the lack of a parade while on the campaign trail. She ran for Missouri Treasurer this year but lost to Vivek Malek in August’s Republican primary.
Rook, an elder law attorney, said veterans, their family members and others kept asking why there was no longer a parade in Springfield.
“I work with a lot of veterans and military families, and I cannot tell you the number of them over the last few years that have expressed their disappointment that Springfield was no longer home to a Veterans Day Parade,” she said.
Rook vowed to look into the issue and see if she could find an answer and a solution. “I like to help people and solve problems. I told several of them I’d look into it.”