Fort Worth's Turn: The 107th Tarrant County Veterans Day Parade Steps Off at 11 This Morning Under a 250-Years Theme

FORT WORTH — Dallas had its closures list and its downtown route; today belongs to the west side of the Metroplex. The 107th Annual Tarrant County Veterans Day Parade steps off at 11:00 a.m. this morning in downtown Fort Worth, with opening activities at 10:30 a.m. near the Tarrant County Courthouse and assembly at Panther Island Pavilion. This year's theme — 'Saluting Our Nation…250 Years of Veterans in Service' — ties the parade to the nation's 250th anniversary, and the parade itself marks 107 years of honoring veterans in Fort Worth. Sgt. William Owens, a World War II Army Air Corps veteran, serves as Grand Marshal.

The weather is the parade's first gift: the station's live feed holds Veterans Day clear and dry across the Metroplex, with a high of 78.2 and a 1% rain chance — the warmest, calmest window of the week, in front of a Sunday that turns cold and wet. A late-morning step-off in short sleeves is not the usual November bargain in North Texas, and this year it is simply the forecast.

The rest of the region keeps the day's rhythm. Denton holds its Veterans Day observance on the Square at 11 a.m. at the Denton County Courthouse-on-the-Square. In Dallas, the George W. Bush Presidential Center offers free admission to all visitors today. And the holiday's second parade closes the day in the middle of the Metroplex: the Texas Veterans Day Parade in the Arlington Entertainment District begins at 5:30 p.m., with military units, marching bands, equipment displays and veteran service resources, and a drone show planned for approximately 7 p.m.

One hundred and seven years in, the Tarrant County parade's arithmetic is its own argument: a World War II airman at the front, a 250-year-old nation as the theme, and a downtown full of the descendants of every war since. Step-off is at 11. The courthouse square is the place, and the morning, for once, is cooperating.