East Valley Veterans Day Parade to be held ‘in reverse’
Oct 3, 2020, 4:00 PM
(East Valley Veterans Parade photo)
(East Valley Veterans Parade photo)
PHOENIX — The East Valley Veterans Day Parade this year will have a major role reversal.
Instead of cheering and waving as floats pass by, spectators will be invited to drive past the floats, which will be set up at a standstill along the route.
The parade, with the theme “Celebrating Lives of Service,” will feature 25 to 30 of the most popular entries for the annual parade, the event said Thursday.
It will take place on Nov. 11 in downtown Mesa beginning at University Drive and Center Street from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The Grand Marshal will be Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, the press release said.
Jasser served as a Navy medical officer for 11 years, earning the rank Lt. Commander before leaving in 1999. He received the Meritorious Service Medal and Navy Achievement Medal.
He also served as chief resident at Bethesda Naval Hospital and was selected to be staff internist at the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Jasser has played an active role in the Arizona health community for years. As a bioethicist, he has consulted Banner Health since 2003. He joined the Maricopa County Board of Health in 2004, which he served on until 2012, and was the President of the Arizona Medical Association in 2006-07.
The parade was originally formed under the Mesa Veterans Parade Association after budget cuts led to the end of the annual Mesa Veterans Parade in 2006.
In 2013, the association changed its name to the East Valley Veterans Parade Association, which it has run under since.
