For the second straight year, the annual Veterans' Day parade will be held in Lansford. The five-division march will be held at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 8, with the rain date being Nov. 15.

The theme this year is "Honoring Those Who Served.""Nobody else wanted to take it so we took it," said parade co-chairman Bill Coll of Lansford American Legion Post 123. He noted that running such a parade is very expensive and requires a lot of planning.The other co-chairman is Robert "Skee" Siesputkowski of the Lansford Amvet Post 83.Renee Slakoper, a member of the parade planning committee, has put together a computer data base which, organizers said, will make staging future parades an easier task.Coll said next year's parade will be held in Palmerton "and we'll help in any way we can," including providing the data base.The parade will be five divisions and so far five bands have agreed to participate. Groups wanting to enter as marching units or with floats should call either the Lansford Legion at 570-645-9795 or Slakoper at 570-645-4455."Raising money is the biggest thing," said Coll, regarding hosting a parade. He said expenses include feeding the marchers, mailings, insurance, and other incidentals.Henry Desroisiers, Director of Veterans Affairs in Carbon County, said he aims to keep the annual parade as a county-wide event. He said there had been a move to have individual municipalities hold parades for Veterans' Day "but my concern is to make sure it remains a county parade. We have 17 veterans organizations in the county."A trolley will be provided for veterans who can't march the entire distance. The vehicle is being rented from Mermon Motors by the Lansford UVO.Last year the Lansford Legion provide such a vehicle.Veterans wanting to ride in the trolley will be picked up at the Lansford American Legion.Slakoper said the parade will form at the Lansford Pool.She said groups may register up to the day of the parade, but early registration is preferred for planning purposes and to have a current line-up available for the reviewing stand.The line of march will be on Bertsch Street to Chestnut Street, north on Chestnut to Patterson sTreet, then west to Springgarden Street, and finally to Ridge Street.The reviewing stand will be in front of the Blue Ridge Communications Office on Ridge Street. The parade will be televised live by Blue Ridge Communications TV 13.Refreshments will be served at the Lansford American Legion and at the Lansford Fire Department.