Groups that want to march in San Francisco's 106th Salute to Veterans Parade on Sunday, November 8, 2026, have until Friday, October 16, to submit an entry application, according to the parade's online entry form.
The parade is scheduled to begin at 11:00 AM in the Fisherman's Wharf area. Two veterans organizations are named on the form as its organizers: American Legion Cathay Post 384 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4618. The entry deadline falls a little more than three weeks before the parade itself.
How entries work
A place in the parade starts with an application. Groups take part as units, and each unit applies through the online form, which is hosted on JotForm. The form asks applicants to have the official application finished by Friday, October 16.
The form also refers to entry requirements and general guidelines that participating units are expected to follow. Those rules are not reproduced on the page itself, so units should make sure they have read them before applying.
For a group leader, that means three steps: open the form, read the requirements it points to, and complete the application before the Friday, October 16, deadline.
What the form leaves out
Several details that units and families may want are not on the form. It mentions no entry fee and does not name a grand marshal. It lists no check-in or staging times for the day of the parade, and it says nothing about admission for spectators.
Questions on any of these points can go to the contacts printed on the form, which include the parade committee and an entry contact at Upbeat Parade Productions.
The route
The form lays out a route that starts on the Embarcadero at North Point Street and runs west along Jefferson Street. Units pass a reviewing stand on Jefferson near Leavenworth before the parade disbands.
Because the route and start time come from the entry form alone, units should confirm them with the organizers as the parade approaches, along with any assembly instructions.
For people planning to watch
The 2026 form is written for participants, not spectators. In 2025, a San Francisco Chronicle list of Veterans Day events described the parade, set that year for Sunday, November 9, 2025, as free. The 2026 form does not say whether watching is still free.
The 2026 parade falls on the Sunday before Veterans Day, which is Wednesday, November 11.
How to take part
Groups that plan to march can apply through the parade's entry form. The key details, as the form gives them:
- Entry deadline: Friday, October 16, 2026
- Parade: Sunday, November 8, 2026, at 11:00 AM
- Where: the Fisherman's Wharf area of San Francisco, starting on the Embarcadero at North Point Street
- Organizers: American Legion Cathay Post 384 and VFW Post 4618
- Entry fee: none mentioned on the form
From Saved by the Saddle
Heroes and Horses, Saved by the Saddle's free program for veterans, meets as Coffee and Horsemanship on the second and fourth Mondays of every month, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM, on the ground at Ocean View Stables in Daly City. Veterans of any branch, era or length of service are welcome, Guard and Reserve included, and no horse experience is needed.
Sources: American Legion Cathay Post 384 and VFW Post 4618, 106th San Francisco Salute to Veterans Parade entry application (2026); San Francisco Chronicle, list of Veterans Day 2025 events in the Bay Area (2025)