NYC Veterans Day Parade Steps Off Wednesday at 12:30 on Fifth Avenue — the City's Guide to the 107th March

The country's largest Veterans Day parade belongs to Wednesday, and the planning starts now. The 107th New York City Veterans Day Parade, produced by the United War Veterans Council, steps off at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, November 11, and marches up Fifth Avenue from 26th Street, beside Madison Square Park, through Midtown to 48th Street, with dispersal on 45th Street between Sixth Avenue and Madison Avenue. The morning begins earlier, with the annual Wreath-Laying Ceremony at 10:55 a.m. in Madison Square Park. The UWVC puts the scale at more than 280 marching units, more than 20,000 marchers, more than 25 floats and more than 150 vehicles — veterans, service members, service organizations and youth cadets from every branch.

This year's Grand Marshal is Sunita 'Suni' Williams, the NASA astronaut and U.S. Navy veteran, whose selection the UWVC announced on the 251st anniversary of the Navy's founding; the honorary marshal is Navy veteran Vicki Bello. The 2026 parade also carries a national marker: it marks the 250th birthday of the United States, whose independence the Council notes was secured by the service the day honors. The parade was first held in 1919, one year after the armistice it commemorates. Streets along the route close at the discretion of the NYPD, the NYC DOT weekly advisory lists the closures, and DOT has a special-event construction embargo in place from November 8 through November 11 — the practical advice for Midtown on Wednesday afternoon is the subway, which is underground and unaffected by the route.

The holiday around the parade runs on its own rules. Government offices, the post office, New York City public schools and the public libraries are closed Wednesday; alternate side parking is suspended, though meters and all other parking rules remain in effect; and there is no trash, recycling or compost collection — households with a Wednesday pickup put material at the curb Wednesday evening for collection beginning Thursday. MTA subways, buses and the Staten Island Ferry run regular weekday schedules. For those who cannot stand on Fifth Avenue, the parade is broadcast live from the 12:30 p.m. step-off on WABC-TV and streamed on ABC 7 New York's platforms. This desk's weather file for parade day, on the station's live feed, currently reads dry and overcast — the forecast is re-read every cycle between now and Wednesday.