On Wednesday, Nov. 11, sunrise in Paducah comes at 6:29 a.m. The City of Paducah has timed the flag raising at the Vietnam Veterans Monument for that minute. The short Sunrise Reveille ceremony begins around 6:15 a.m. and includes the playing of Reveille. Afterward there is coffee and donuts on the Washington Street side of Dolly McNutt Memorial Plaza.
At 11 a.m. the same morning, the Veterans Day Parade steps off a block away, and it will disband at Water and Jefferson Streets. That corner sits beside the floodwall opening the city dedicated in September. The day's three official events start on the same city block, and the route runs from there to the river. You can walk the whole thing.
A Memorial on Every Side of the Plaza
Dolly McNutt Memorial Plaza covers one block at 301 South 5th Street, between City Hall and the McCracken County Courthouse. It is named for Alice "Dolly" McNutt, who served Paducah as a city commissioner and as mayor and later served in the Kentucky legislature. The plaza took her name in May 1986, and "Memorial" was added in November 2013.
Besides the fountain, the block holds four war memorials, and according to the city's monuments and memorials guide, each one faces a different street:
- World War II memorial: on South 5th Street, facing City Hall
- Korean War memorial: on 6th Street between Clark and Washington
- Vietnam Veterans Monument: on the Washington Street side, facing the public library
- Global War on Terrorism Memorial: on the Clark Street side
The layout matters on Nov. 11 because the day starts on one side of the block and moves around it. The Reveille is on the Washington Street side and the ceremony is on the plaza. The parade lines up at 6th and Washington, the corner of the block that sits between the Vietnam monument and the Korean War memorial.
Three Start Times, One Block
6:15 a.m. at the Vietnam Veterans Monument
The Reveille comes first. The city closes Washington Street between 5th and 6th Streets for the ceremony and says there is parking around the plaza. It hasn't always been held here. The city's 2020 notice placed the Reveille at the Foot of Broadway, by the river, the same year the parade was canceled because of COVID-19. This year's ceremony is held inland, beside the monument facing the library.
10 a.m. Opening Ceremony on the Plaza
The Veterans Day Opening Ceremony starts at 10 a.m. at Dolly McNutt Memorial Plaza. It is where the city presents its two annual awards and recognizes the student contest winners.
The Distinguished Veteran Award goes to a veteran who is active and involved in the community. Anyone who has served in any branch can be nominated, and current McCracken County residents get preference. The Patriot Award goes to someone who is not a veteran but gives time to veterans and veteran causes in the community.
The student awards come from the Veterans Day Poster & Essay Contest, sponsored by Paducah Parks & Recreation and the Paducah Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. It is open to K-12 students in Paducah and McCracken County. The youngest entrants make posters, and the assignments get harder with each grade band:
| Division | Format | 2026 theme |
|---|---|---|
| Grades K-1 | 8½-by-11-inch original poster | "Veterans Helping Others" |
| Grades 2-3 | 8½-by-11-inch original poster | "Veterans Helping Others" |
| Grades 4-5 | 100-150 word essay | "What did our Revolutionary War Veterans Sacrifice?" |
| Grades 6-8 | 150-200 word essay | "Veterans Who Helped Shape America" |
| Grades 9-12 | 200-400 word essay | "The Meaning and Cost of Service to our Nation" |
Each division names first, second and third place. Parade entries, award nominations and contest entries were all due Oct. 22, so the field is set by the time of the ceremony.
11 a.m. at 6th and Washington
An hour after the ceremony starts, the parade steps off from the plaza's 6th Street corner. According to the city, Paducah Parks & Recreation has helped organize the parade since the mid-1990s. The city sets the morning's schedule with the 2026 Veterans Day observances announcement, and Visit Paducah lists the ceremony and parade on its event calendar.
From the Plaza to the River in Two Turns
On paper the parade route is simple. It leaves the courthouse block and ends at the riverfront:
- Step off at 6th and Washington Streets.
- Travel along 6th Street.
- Turn right onto Broadway and head toward the riverfront.
- Turn left at Water Street.
- Disband at Water and Jefferson Streets.
The disband point now sits beside the riverfront's newest feature. On Sept. 18, the City of Paducah held a ribbon cutting at the floodwall opening on Water Street between Broadway and Jefferson. The city calls that opening a grand entrance to the riverfront and downtown. It is also one of the first things riverboat passengers see when they come ashore. The parade's left turn onto Water Street ends right next to that opening.
The opening is part of the Riverfront Infrastructure Improvement Project, also called the BUILD Grant project. Its main pieces are a 500-foot excursion pier, a plaza, and a walkway beside the Quilt Murals. According to the city's completion release, most of the funding came from a $10.4 million federal grant, with another $3.5 million from the state. We covered the engineering side of the project, the slope the new pier was built to fix, in Paducah's Riverfront Didn't Need a Facelift. It Needed a Ramp.
The concrete floodwall at the end of the route also carries Paducah's Wall to Wall murals. There are more than 60 life-size panoramas, painted by Robert Dafford and his team. This is the first Veterans Day parade since the new riverfront entrance opened, and it ends among murals of Paducah's own history.
Planning the Morning on Foot
All three events start on one block, so the morning is easier to plan than it looks. The breaks are long and predictable:
- 6:15 a.m.: Reveille at the Vietnam Veterans Monument, with the flag raised at 6:29 a.m. and coffee and donuts afterward. Washington Street is closed between 5th and 6th.
- 10 a.m.: Opening Ceremony on Dolly McNutt Memorial Plaza, with the award presentations and student contest winners.
- 11 a.m.: Parade from 6th and Washington, down Broadway and onto Water Street.
- End of the parade: Water and Jefferson, at the floodwall opening.
Between Reveille and the ceremony, there is time to walk around the plaza and see the four memorials in order. The World War II memorial is on 5th, Global War on Terrorism on Clark, Korea on 6th, and Vietnam on Washington. Between the ceremony and the parade there is about an hour, enough to choose a spot along 6th Street or Broadway. Someone who wants to see the end of the parade can walk down Broadway ahead of it and wait at the river.
The city's parking guidance applies to the Reveille, which has parking around the plaza and the Washington Street closure.
For more on the blocks between the courthouse and the river, see our Paducah neighborhood page.
Sirk & Company Real Estate has worked out of downtown Paducah since 1979, and we've watched the blocks along 6th, Broadway and Water Street change through decades of civic projects, including this fall's new riverfront entrance. If you own a building on the parade route or are thinking about buying one, we can talk through what those changes mean for its value and use. Contact Us.
