SARASOTA COUNTY - The Sarasota County’s Veterans Benefits Unit, the Sarasota Patriotic Observance Committee and the Venice Area Veterans Council will honor those who served in the nation’s armed forces during a Veterans Day parade and ceremonies in Sarasota and Venice.

The Sarasota parade will begin at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 11, at Main Street and Osprey Avenue. The route of the march will be west along Main Street to Chaplain J.D. Hamel Park on Gulf Stream Avenue. Col. Richard Bolstad, USAF Ret. and a prisoner of war in Vietnam for more than seven years, will be the featured speaker at the ceremony immediately following the parade. The theme of this year’s parade and ceremony is “Land of the Free Because of the Brave.”

In Venice, the American Legion NO-VELL Post 159 will host a ceremony beginning at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 11. The event will be held at Patriots Park at the north junction of Business U.S. 41 and Bypass U.S. 41. The guest speaker will be Andy Hooker, vice president of the Sarasota County Veterans Commission. Spectators are encouraged to bring a chair.

“The parade and ceremony is an opportunity for the citizens of Sarasota to honor not only veterans of the armed services but police officers, sheriff deputies, fire fighters and emergency medical personnel,” said Dan Kunkel, Patriotic Observance Committee president.