Marching bands, military units and the mayors of Buffalo, Niagara Falls and the City of Tonawanda will join in Buffalo’s first Veterans Day Parade down Delaware Avenue to City Hall on Saturday morning.

Organized under the auspices of State Sen. Antoine M. Thompson, D-Buffalo, it will begin assembling at 9 a. m. at Red Cross headquarters, 786 Delaware Ave., and step off from Delaware Avenue and Summer Street at 10 a. m.

A ceremony in Niagara Square will follow the parade. Organizers also will be collecting toiletries and personal care items for U. S. troops overseas.

Also taking place Saturday is the eighth annual Veterans Recognition Dinner sponsored by the Rotary Club of Hamburg from 6 to 9:30 p. m. in the VFW Oakwood Manor Banquet Facility, 2985 Lakeview Road, Hamburg. Tickets must be purchased in advance.

Most Veterans Day programs, however, will take place on the actual holiday next Wednesday. Genesee Community College will hold events on its Batavia, Albion and Medina campuses that day.

The observance with the longest tradition will take place at 11 a. m. Wednesday in front of the World War I Doughboy Monument at Buffalo’s Connecticut Street Armory, 184 Connecticut St.

Sponsored by the 74th/174th Infantry, New York National Guard, Veterans Association, it features the placing of flags on wreaths by 15 American veterans organizations and the Canadian Field Artillery Association. Col. Patrick Cunningham, executive director of the Buffalo & Erie County Naval and Military Park, will be guest speaker.

Hank Nowak Post 45, AM-VETS, 3071 Abbott Road, Orchard Park, also will conduct its annual Veterans Day ceremonies at 11 a. m. Wednesday. The public is invited. Anyone wishing to participate may call the post at 824-3147.

Veterans Day programs will be held at the Batavia and Buffalo facilities of the Veterans Affairs Western New York Healthcare System.

In Batavia, Genesee County veterans groups will have a ceremony at the flagpole at 10 a. m. In Buffalo, Col. Mark P. Murphy, vice commander of the 914th Airlift Wing in Niagara Falls, will deliver the keynote address in a program at 2 p. m. in Freedom Hall.