Event Map
Debbie Lurie-Smith
debbie@jcnews.com
All is ready for Jones County’s annual Veterans Appreciation Day, which this year happens on the Veterans Day holiday.
The event is unique to the communities of Gray and Jones County, having started in 2001 and continuing each year thereafter. The program for the event is put together by the Jones County’s Veterans Committee, led by Ret. Col. Richard Combs.
The Nov. 11 event will be the 23rd Annual Veterans Celebration and the program theme is “Honoring All Who Served.”
The celebration begins with the Col. Allen Carr Memorial 5K race. Registration for the race starts at 8:30 a.m., with the race scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. in the parking lot of the W.E. Knox Center. Entry fee for the race is $30.
The Garden Club, Pilot Club, DAR and American Legion all have tables for the Veterans Appreciation Day celebration, which are in addition to the stage, the veteran’s registration table, service hats and military memorabilia, Hawke’s patriotic carvings tables and the Jones County Cruisers Car Show.
Members of American Legion Post 142 presold chicken dinner tickets that can be picked up at the event. The members have also been selling raffle tickets for a Henry rifle, donated by Gray Memorial. Those tickets will continue to be sold up to the time of the raffle, which takes place toward the end of the Nov. 11 program.
The cost of the raffle tickets is $10 each or three for $20.
The program is planned to be outside and begins with the Veterans Walk. The lineup for the Walk starts at 10:45 a.m., and the program begins at 11 a.m.
Cadets with the Jones County High School JROTC will present the colors at beginning of the program, and JROTC Battalion Commander Cadet Lt. Colonel JCHS JROTC Isaiah Denis will speak about the JROTC program.
