San Jose’s 108th Veterans Day Parade steps off at noon Wednesday downtown, saluting Vietnam War veterans

The roughly mile-long route runs east on Santa Clara Street and south on Market Street. Downtown streets start closing at 6 a.m., and seven VTA bus lines detour.

Events desk
Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026In the Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026 edition

Spectators holding small American flags watch a uniformed Coast Guard officer wave from the back of a dark convertible driving down a downtown street. — Vice Adm. Paul Zukunft, then the Coast Guard’s Pacific Area commander and the parade’s grand marshal, waves to flag-waving spectators at the San Jose Veterans Day Parade on Nov. 11, 2012. — Photo: Petty Officer 2nd Class Barry Bena, U.S. Coast Guard / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

San Jose’s 108th Veterans Day Parade starts at noon Wednesday, Nov. 11, downtown, with a special salute to Vietnam War veterans, according to the organizer, the Silicon Valley Chapter of the Military Officers Association of America. The San Jose Public Library also lists the noon start.

The organizer says the parade has been held every year since 1918 with support from the City of San Jose and Santa Clara County, and calls it the largest Veterans Day parade in Northern California. It honors everyone who has served or is serving in the military.

The route

The route is about a mile long. It starts at Almaden Boulevard and Santa Clara Street, by the Highway 87 overpass, heads east on Santa Clara Street, turns right on Market Street past Plaza de César Chávez and ends at San Carlos Street near the convention center. The whole parade takes about an hour and a half to pass, the organizer says. Its information booth is a blue canopy at Delmas Avenue and Santa Clara Street.

Getting there

Closures start early. The San Jose Downtown Association lists Santa Clara Street closed between Market and First streets from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., Park Avenue between Market Street and Almaden Boulevard from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the northbound Highway 87 exit to Santa Clara Street from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Most streets along the route close from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. VTA, the county’s transit agency, is detouring bus lines 22, 64A, 64B, 68, 500, 522 and 568 from 5 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The organizer points spectators to the downtown association’s parking options and says there is no shuttle. Its page lists no tickets or spectator charge; the fees it lists, $65 per vehicle for one or two, are for parade entrants. The National Weather Service forecasts sunny skies and a high near 81 on Veterans Day.

Source: San Jose Veterans Day Parade (MOAA Silicon Valley Chapter); San José Public Library: Veterans Day; San Jose Downtown Association: traffic updates; VTA alert: Routes 22, 64A, 64B and 68; VTA alert: Routes 500, 522 and 568; National Weather Service forecast

Drafted by AI from the linked public source. Approved by a Daily News Editor.

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