It’s Veterans Day today – or rather, the government is observing it today by closing most offices. State and local units are – for the most part – shut down today in observance of the day itself, which oficially is tomorrow.
There are Veterans Day observances planned for today, though … South Florida State College has a Remembrance Ceremony on the circle at the main campus in Avon Park. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Michael Ryan will keynote that event. The Sebring High Show Choir is also set to perform there. The ceremony begins at 10:45.
The Military Sea Services Museum on Kenilworth Boulevard will be celebrating the US Marine Corps’ Founding today with an ice cream socially from noon till 2pm today.
The Battle of Bands is bringing back their “You Served Us, Now We Serve You” event as a tailgate party for Veterans and friends, along with a car show from 4 till 10pm on Museum Avenue in Downtown Avon Park. Free Barbecue for Veterans, trophies for the best cars in the show, and free admission for everyone.
There will be a Veterans Day Parade in Sebring tomorrow, starting at Firemen’s Field at 9:30 and heading toward downtown. Organizers plan food trucks, kids’ games, a car show and entertainment til 10pm. And Sun ‘N Lake of Sebring will hold a Veterans Day Ceremony at 11 tomorrow morning at the Veterans Memorial in front of the clubhouse.
Sebring is due to get a little bigger after the City Council agreed this week to a development agreement with the Martz Family Holdings for an 88 acre plot of land near the corner of Highway 27 and 66 south of town. The Martz family owns and operates Insight Auctioneers, currently located down Highway 66.
Lake Placid’s Bicentennial Park is going to stay where it is, as it is after all. The land off Dal Hall Boulevard has a gazebo, picnic tables and playground equipment and had been on a lease from the Gissendaner Trust, but family members opted to sell the property and terminate the lease. The Town Council agreed to meet the original buyer’s price and keep the land as a town park.
Initial filings for unemployment benefits in Florida dropped last week compared with the week prior, the U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday. New jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, fell to 5,358 in the week ending November 4, down from 5,750 the week before, the Labor Department said. That tracks national figures, where nationwide, unemployment claims dropped to 217,000 last week, down 3,000 claims from the week prior on a seasonally adjusted basis.