The Anthem Veterans Day Ceremony Runs on the Sun's Schedule. Plan Your Morning Around 11:11.

Why does a community ceremony start at 10 a.m. sharp on a Wednesday and wrap up by 11:15?

On Wednesday, November 11, the Anthem Community Council's calendar lists the Veterans Day Ceremony at Community Park, 41703 N. Gavilan Peak Parkway, from 10:00 to 11:15 a.m. The program closes at 11:11 a.m., "in honor of the Armistice," when sunlight passes through the ellipses of the Anthem Veterans Memorial's five armed services pillars and lights up the Great Seal of the United States. Each part of the morning, from the breakfast line to the wreaths, is timed so the program reaches that minute on cue.

This year that minute has extra weight. The memorial turns 15.

A Memorial Designed Around a Single Minute

The council's October 8, 2026 announcement says the memorial was dedicated on November 11, 2011, and became an Arizona Historic Landmark six months later. The pillars are arranged so the sun's rays pass through them and form what the council calls "a perfect spotlight" on the Great Seal at 11:11 a.m.

So the timing is part of the design. You can visit the stone and the pavers in Community Park any time, but the full effect only happens at one minute on one morning a year. The calendar adds a caveat that matters in practice: the illumination happens "weather permitting." If clouds cover the sun at 11:11, the seal stays dark, and the next chance comes a year later.

Working Backward From 11:11

According to the council's announcement, this is how the morning of Wednesday, November 11 is laid out.

1. 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. Breakfast for purchase. Nonprofit booths, music and videos fill the park before the formal program begins.
2. 10:00 a.m. Official ceremony. Command Sergeant Major Joshua Holton of the U.S. Army is the emcee. Anthem Community Council Board Chair Dave Duckworth and Director Aaron Baker give the opening remarks.
3. Invocation and music. Pastor Lee Davis of Anthem's Kings Church gives the invocation, and Musical Theater of Anthem provides special music.
4. Keynote. Retired Rear Admiral Ron Tucker speaks. The council credits him with being "instrumental in the conception of the Anthem Veterans Memorial."
5. Wreaths and the award. Youth for Troops staffs a nonprofit booth and helps place the wreaths, and Sandra Day O'Connor Air Force JROTC supports the event under Major Vaughan Whited and Master Sergeant John Michael Badey. The Veterans Service Award is presented during the ceremony.
6. 11:11 a.m. Solar illumination of the Great Seal. The program ends here, and the calendar lists the event as wrapping up at 11:15.

In practice, the breakfast hour is your cushion. The program runs on a fixed schedule because the sun does, so anyone who arrives after 10 a.m. joins an event that is already partway to its finish.

The keynote speaker this year also ties the ceremony back to the memorial's beginnings. In the council's announcement, Tucker put it this way:

"I am honored to participate in this Veterans Day ceremony also celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Anthem Veterans Memorial. This ceremony and this memorial remind us of the service and sacrifice of our wonderful veterans and provides all of us in Anthem, and beyond, the opportunity to simply say, 'thank you for your service.'"

Two Anniversaries Stacked Into One Theme

The 2026 theme is "Legacy of Service: A Nation at 250 and A Memorial at 15." It joins the country's 250th year with Anthem's own 15-year marker, and the Veterans Service Award reflects that same local focus. The council says the award recognizes "an individual, group, business, or organization that has displayed extraordinary service or selfless dedication to our community's veterans."

The ceremony is a joint effort. The Anthem Community Council organizes it with the Anthem Way Foundation, and the calendar notes that it is funded in part by the Arizona Department of Veterans' Services through the Arizona Veterans' Donations Fund. In other words, a state veterans fund helps pay for a morning built around one neighborhood's monument.

Three Days Later, the Same Stretch of Gavilan Peak Parkway

The ceremony isn't the only veterans event in Anthem that week. On Saturday, November 14, 2026, Daisy Mountain Veterans holds its 22nd annual parade. It steps off at 10 a.m. and is followed by a noon Picnic in the Park with food trucks, kids' activities and a FrogX parachute jump.

The route starts at Memorial Drive and Gavilan Peak Parkway, runs along Anthem Park, turns right onto Anthem Way, and ends at the Community Center. That puts the parade's starting point on the same Gavilan Peak Parkway frontage where the memorial stands, so the weekend crowd begins its morning a short walk from the pillars that hosted the Wednesday ceremony.

The parade also has more history than the monument. A 22nd annual parade in 2026 means it was already going for years before the memorial was dedicated in 2011. Its date also shifts from year to year. The council's calendar shows the 2025 parade on Saturday, November 8, three days before that year's ceremony, and in 2026 it falls three days after. The ceremony stays fixed on November 11 because the sun sets the date. The parade lands on whichever Saturday the organizers choose.

Here is the week side by side:

Daisy Mountain Veterans says the parade's Grand Marshals will be veterans from each period of the country's military history, and veterans can sign up for the role on the organization's site.

The Names Underfoot in the Circle of Honor

The ceremony has a fixed date, and the memorial grounds keep adding names. The council says fundraising and paver sales in the memorial's Circle of Honor are still going as the memorial nears its 15th anniversary.

The council's Honor a Veteran sponsorship form lists donation levels of $150 to honor one veteran, $300 for two, $450 for three and $600 for four. Under the same form, a donation over $500 makes the donor a "Friend of the Memorial," and a paver with the donor's name is placed in front of one of the memorial's benches. The form is undated, so confirm current amounts with the council before you send payment.

There's also a character limit to plan around. The council's online veteran paver form takes a veteran's name, an optional rank or rate, the service branch and years of service, and caps each of its three inscription lines at 23 characters. A full name with a rank often won't fit on one line, so it helps to draft the wording before you sit down with the form. For more about the memorial, the council points people to its Anthem Veterans Memorial page.

Here at The Mitchell Group AZ, we're proud to call Anthem part of our home turf, and we hope to see you in Community Park before 11:11 on Wednesday, November 11. If a veteran in your family is getting a paver this year, or you just have questions about life and homes along Gavilan Peak Parkway, reach out to our family. We're always glad to talk, and we can prepare a human-made estimate whenever you'd like to Get Your Home's Value.