Chillicothe VAMC to Host Veterans Festival

Article Presented By Pickaway Ross CTC…

(Chillicothe) – As festival and fair season comes to a close in southern and southeastern Ohio, our military heroes will be honored for Veterans Day. At the Chillicothe VA Medical Center, we chose to honor our community Veterans in a different way than we are accustomed to, with a festival of our own, according to Medical Center Director, Ken Mortimer. 

Thursday, November 9th, the Chillicothe VA will be hosting our inaugural “Honoring Veterans Festival”.  “We are moving away from the indoor ceremony and into a format we believe brings attention to our Veterans in a way that is fun, engaging, and truly promotes fellowship within the community. We have partnered with multiple community partners to make this festival a reality. Ripe with live music, catered food and a litany of outdoor entertainment, we want to use this as a true springboard to how we honor our Vets.“

“We haven’t deviated entirely from the ceremony format, however.  Veteran guest speaker, Dr. Brian Montgomery (U.S. Army) alongside our medical center director, Ken Mortimer, will drive our ceremony.  We have also partnered with McClain High School, from Greenfield, OH and the Ross County Honor Guard to help facilitate the event.”      

Following the ceremony, the festival will play host to live music, food (provided by the Knights of Columbus and “Up in Smoke” food truck), a staff led chili cook-off, over 100 feet of military memorabilia, and a souvenir photo booth. All of that will be flanked by multiple information booths handing out VA information, as well as the VAMC’s Medical Mobile Unit, offering free flu shots to Veterans. The ceremony begins at 11am, on November 9th in the Building 9 parking lot on the Chillicothe VA Medical Center campus, and the festival will run until 2pm. This event is open to the public.

The Honoring Veterans Festival isn’t the only event for the VA that week, as they will be in the community every day from 9th to 13th, with the following events.

November 10: General Mills in Wellston, OH.  This is an enrollment event running from 6am to 8am AND 2pm to 4pm.

November 11: The Medical Mobile Unit will be stationed at Texas Roadhouse in Chillicothe, OH, giving free flu shots to community Veterans in conjunction with free meals to Veterans, provided by Texas Roadhouse, from 11am to 3pm.

November 12: Representatives from the Chillicothe VA will attend the Circleville AMVETS Post 2256, for their Veterans Day luncheon, with VA literature and enrollment/eligibility information from 12pm to 1pm.

November 13: VA representatives at the Veterans Appreciation Event will be at the Golden Corral, in Chillicothe, OH, giving free flu shots to our community Veterans in conjunction with free meals to Veterans, provided by Golden Corral, from 4pm to 6pm.

“We hope you will join us in honoring our Veterans on November 9th, on the Chillicothe VA campus as well as throughout various events within the community.“

If you have any questions, please contact the VAMC’ Public Affairs Office at (740) 773-1141 ext. 17080.