1. Go out for a parade! This Friday’s Veterans Day Parade will be the largest one ever, beginning on Fifth Avenue at 23rd Street at the Eternal Light Monument in Madison Square Park, and continuing up to 56th Street. Also, Cuba Gooding Jr. will be marching this year for your celebrity photo-op.
2. Or get in on the action at the Central Park Veterans Day Memorial Walk on Friday from 11 a.m., which kicks off at the Maine Monument at Columbus Circle and covers about two miles.
3. Party on the pavement with a Veterans Day Block Party on Madison Avenue, with vendors and tons of delicious food.
4. Or on the green at the Veterans Day Festival at Bowling Green Park, both in the park and on Whitehall Street, running from Beaver Street to Stone Street.
5. On Friday at 3 p.m., the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum is hosting a Veterans Day Ceremony on their pier, and veterans get into the museum for free. Stop by any time to see the limited-time Dignity Memorial Vietnam Wall, a traveling three-quarter scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., also on the pier, and also free.
6. Gratis admission will also be offered to vets on Friday at the New York Historical Society, which fully reopens to the public (after a three-year, $70 million renovation) this weekend, as well as at the Brooklyn Historical Society, which is currently displaying “In Our Own Words: Portraits of Brooklyn Vietnam Veterans,” an exhibit featuring oral histories and personal effects of eight local veterans.
7. And speaking of museums, this Friday marks the opening of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Museum, a building designed in 1857, which showcases the history and the future of the Navy Yard. Admission is free, and free shuttles will be running every fifteen to twenty minutes from nearby train stations. See bldg92.com for more details.