Veterans Day Week in Military City: Wednesday Ceremonies at St. Mary's and the McNay, Then Saturday's Hemisfair Celebration
San Antonio's Veterans Day observances run all week. The downtown parade stepped off Saturday at noon from Milam Park; ahead are Veterans Day itself on Wednesday — a St. Mary's University ceremony at the Barrett Memorial Bell Tower and free McNay admission for veterans and active-duty military — and the week's biggest gathering, SA Veterans Day at Hemisfair, on Saturday, Nov. 14, from noon to 6 p.m. at Civic Park.
Military City USA does not fit its gratitude into one day. The week's flagship parade is already in the books: the United States Military Veterans Parade, presented by USAA and organized by the United States Military Veterans Parade Association, stepped off at noon Saturday from Milam Park and traveled historic Houston Street before turning onto Jefferson, with Rear Admiral Kertreck V. Brooks, commander of My Navy Career Center, as the 2026 grand marshal, according to the association's announcements and photo coverage of the day. The event was free and open to the public, as the week's remaining observances are.
On Veterans Day itself — Wednesday, Nov. 11 — the observances turn ceremonial. St. Mary's University holds its annual Veterans Day Ceremony at the Barrett Memorial Bell Tower, hosted by the university's Veteran and Military Affairs office in partnership with ROTC and free to attend. The McNay Art Museum marks the day with free admission for veterans and active-duty military personnel, plus up to five adult guests and children and teens 19 and under, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with docent-led tours, a hands-on art activity and complimentary refreshments, according to the museum's listing. Up the road in Fredericksburg, the National Museum of the Pacific War holds its Veterans Day program from 11 to 11:30 a.m. at the Pacific Combat Zone Amphitheater, with keynote remarks from Vice Admiral John M. Bird, U.S. Navy (Retired), and the color guard provided by the Alamo Battalion of the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps, according to the Texas Historical Commission, which operates the museum.
The week closes with its largest gathering. The sixth annual SA Veterans Day at Hemisfair, presented by H-E-B Operation Appreciation, runs Saturday, Nov. 14, from noon to 6 p.m. at Civic Park (210 S. Alamo Street) — free and family-friendly, with live music, a Veteran Resource Fair, a kids' zone, and more than $10,000 in Valero fuel cards for military service members, with the first 400 veterans who check in eligible to receive one, according to the event guides. For a city built around its bases and the families who serve on them, the desk's advice is simple: pick one observance this week and show up — Wednesday's ceremonies are the quiet ones, Saturday's festival is the loud one, and both kinds count.
