Armed Forces Day Celebration

At noon on the Saturday of the third weekend in May, the parade steps off on Main Street in Hawthorne, Nevada. The Mineral County Independent-News described the 2023 parade this way. A military aircraft passed overhead to open it. Then came floats, cars, and local celebrities throwing candy, the Renegades in vintage vehicles, class alumni reunions, the winners of the Miss AFD Pageant, and Cecil the Serpent. The route runs from Main Street to Veterans Memorial Park at the north end of E Street. At the end, the paper reported, everyone helps carry the large American flag into the park.

Noon on Main Street

According to the Armed Forces Day Committee, soldiers of the Nevada Army National Guard march right behind the Color Guard and the Grand Marshal, leading most of the entries alongside tactical ground vehicles. The Adjutant General and other senior state officers attend to review the parade. Cadets from the Battle Born Youth ChalleNGe Academy now march in formation with them. A 2026 notice in This Is Reno lists the entries that follow: quads, golf carts, scooters, and people on foot, all decorated in red, white and blue.

Hawthorne calls itself America’s Patriotic Home. The Independent-News credits the name in large part to the local army depot. This Is Reno writes that the town houses the world’s largest ammunition depot, with thousands of artillery storage bunkers and a munitions museum. Armed Forces Day is Mineral County’s biggest event of the year. The 2026 celebration ran May 15 to 17 and was counted the 75th. The committee has set the next for May 15, 2027.

Barley’s, the Legion, and the USO Building

The 2026 program began on the Thursday, when the schedule also carried a notice for a celebration of life at the Hawthorne Junior High School gymnasium. It honored Al Ferrell, who served Hawthorne Naval Base, Babbitt, and Hawthorne as a firefighter, EMT, and ambulance driver from the age of 16 to 67. That evening Barley’s Sports Bar, at 595 5th Street, held a horseshoe tournament.

Barley’s anchors much of the weekend. On Friday it ran trike races and the AFD Bar “March.” On Saturday it put on a car show in Joe’s parking lot at 8 a.m. and served pancakes and sausage for a small fee. It poured mimosas and Bloody Marys during the parade, and afterward held wheelbarrow races and a watermelon eating contest. More trike races followed at 5:30 and live music at 6. Barley’s also joined the local Boy Scout troops for a flag ceremony at the parade grandstand at 11 a.m. On Sunday morning it served a full breakfast.

On Friday, American Legion Post 19 opened the dirt lot beside its hall at 7th and E Street for free music, crafts, painting, and games, and for postcards to be sent to the troops. A band played outside Gil’s from 7 to 9 p.m. Karaoke ran at the USO Building. Fireworks went up around 9 p.m., courtesy of the El Capitan, TravelLodge, and Northstar casinos. In Joe’s parking lot at 5th and Main, the Flippin Out Trampoline Show did three acrobatic sets that day and two more on Saturday.

On Saturday, Creativity Cove brought bounce houses and games to the Big Flag park, with $10 wristbands sold at the gate. At the USO Building, 950 E Street, the H-Town Baggers hosted a cornhole tournament for VFW Post 2313, with bags flying at 11 a.m. That evening the same band from Friday played for the VFW in the USO Building. Out on Armory Road, demolition derby cars started at 6 p.m. This Is Reno adds arm wrestling, pong, and quarters to the weekend’s tournaments.

Food came from vendors including Alicia’s Mexican Food, Tacos El Buki, TnD Tacos, Southwest Smokers, Paladins Bakery, Glazed & Confused, Wende’s Hit and Miss Ice Cream, Snowie Shaved Ice, and Wild West Burgers. Among the other tables were Drawful Caricatures, the Nevada Department of Veterans Services, UNR Extension 4-H, and Mineral County Pop Warner, whose stall was listed as “Pie the People.” Linda’s Charms sold the AFD T-shirts. Josh Richards Tattoo worked out of Barley’s garage.

Flashlights in the old courthouse

On the afternoon of Saturday, May 16, 2026, the old courthouse on the 500 block of C Street was open for tours from 1 to 6 p.m. The schedule’s instruction was to “bring a flashlight and respect for the space.” On the lawn at 5th and C, Hawthorne’s Hometown Quilt Show hung old and new quilts for show and sale, with a special entry for patriotic quilts in honor of the day. The committee believed a showing of Andre Molyneaux’s Babbitt documentary was set for the YCAC during the same hours.

The courthouse tours began in 2017, when the Independent-News reported the opening of the historic old Mineral County Courthouse as a new event. Members of Mineral County Search & Rescue guided all 562 people who walked through, answering questions and hearing many stories. Because of that turnout, the group was asked to open the building again the next year. Quilts have turned up in other years too: the 2024 raffle offered two handmade quilts sewn from past AFD T-shirts.

“Teamed for Defense”

The national day dates to August 31, 1949. On that date Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson announced an Armed Forces Day to replace the separate Army, Navy, and Air Force days, after the services were unified under the Department of Defense. President Harry Truman’s proclamation of February 27, 1950, called the first observance, on Saturday, May 20, 1950, “the first parade of preparedness by the unified forces of our land, sea, and air defense.” Its theme was “Teamed for Defense.” That day B-36 bombers flew over state capitals, and more than 33,000 people took part in the New York City parade.

The Independent-News wrote in 2017 that Hawthorne had held its first Armed Forces Day celebration 67 years earlier, and it captioned that year’s parade the 67th annual. By the paper’s later count, 2023 was the 72nd and 2024 the 73rd. The committee counted 2026 as the 75th. In 2024 the paper called the event Nevada’s longest running Armed Forces Day celebration. It also reported that a small group of volunteers has put the event on since its start.

The 2017 parade, under a clear blue sky, had 70 entries and the theme “America’s Military – Guardians of Freedom.” There were marching bands, military floats, and princesses riding in monster trucks. The day’s contests included burnouts, a pin-up contest, watermelon eating, and hamster balls in the park. On the Wednesday before, the Armed Forces Day Talent Show at the Hawthorne Convention Center ran from a boxing routine to an Indian hoop dance. Liz Rogers won the adult division singing “Red House.” Her daughter Ashley took the youth division with “Can’t Help Falling In Love With You,” sung as a duet with Braedyn Barton.

The volunteers now work as a 501(c)(3) committee that meets all year. Its 2026 board was chaired by Tiffani Oberhansli, with Juanita Diede as vice chairperson and Paris Tommila as treasurer. Several posts stood unfilled, among them secretary and parade coordinator. Employees at the hospital, the county, and the credit union give through payroll deduction. By late September 2026 the committee was holding a weekly Wednesday-morning session called “The Full Muster: An AFD Q&A” and planning a new theme and new T-shirts.

Grand marshals and a serpent

Cecil the Serpent has long been part of the parade. In 2017 the paper reported that Cecil had been given a facelift and a new paint job, and wove down the street “showing off his pearly white teeth.” This Is Reno calls him Cecil the Sea Serpent. In 2024 the committee added a rock-painting table to raise money for him. “The idea is for the rocks to be formed into a ‘Cecil the Rock Serpent’ and be placed in a public area,” said marketing head Dana Tommila. “Hopefully people will add rocks over time.”

The grand marshals have come from the town and from the services. Betty Easley, a longtime resident and airport volunteer, held the role in 2022. The next year she promoted an open house at the airport. The Nevada National Guard brought three helicopters and a C-130, Care Flight brought a helicopter, and REACH brought its PC-12 medical plane. “Please take a few minutes to show them you appreciate their service and support and come to the airport if only for a few minutes,” Easley said. “It will mean a lot to them.” In past years the Guard also displayed CH-47 Chinook and UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters at the airport. The committee notes that current regulations do not allow a flyover and static displays at the same event.

In 2023 the role went to Lieutenant Colonel David Geerdes, a Hawthorne native who joined the active-duty forces in 1995 as an F-16 mechanic. In 2024 it went to retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Bob Swift, known as Speedy. Larry M. Cruz, the Hawthorne Army Depot commander’s representative, welcomed that year’s crowd with a note on the grand marshal: “At 93 years young, Bob is still Swift and Speedy!”