Veterans ceremonies — Sebastian, Florida

Sebastian holds its Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies at 11 a.m. at the Veterans Memorial in Riverview Park, on the Indian River at U.S. 1 and County Road 512.

The City of Sebastian lists the Veteran's War Memorial among the park's amenities, next to the Splash Pad and the twin piers. On Memorial Day 2026, Monday, May 25, the Memorial Day Observance at the Veterans Memorial in Riverview Park ran from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm, Sebastian Daily reported.

The 11 a.m. start is long standing in Sebastian. In 2012 Vero News reported that Memorial Day observances would begin at 9 a.m. at Veterans Memorial Island Sanctuary in Vero Beach and at 11 a.m. in Sebastian so that residents could attend both. Veterans Day follows the same clock: the City of Sebastian and American Legion Post 189 organized a community ceremony at the Riverview Park memorial on November 11, 2025, from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm, according to Sebastian Daily.

The Riverview Park Veterans Memorial in Sebastian holds stones for WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam veterans, the Four Chaplains Memorial, a Global War on Terror monument and a POW/MIA monument.

The memorial grew in stages. Ahead of Memorial Day 2014, Vero News described engraved stone monuments honoring veterans of WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam placed side by side along the walkway in front of the American flagpole in Riverview Park. A memorial walkway of engraved bricks, dedicated in 2012, runs between and around the Sebastian monuments, with veteran bricks near the memorials and non-veteran bricks along the path leading in.

The Four Chaplains Memorial came first among the newer pieces. Vero News reported in May 2012 that the 2012 Memorial Day ceremony in Sebastian would include dedication of the Four Chaplains Memorial, honoring the four clergymen who gave up their own life vests when the transport Dorchester sank in World War II, along with the lighting of an eternal flame. Memorial bricks were to line a walkway linking the existing Sebastian Veterans Memorial to the new Four Chaplains Memorial.

Two monuments followed. On Memorial Day 2014, a monument recognizing those who fought in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Global War on Terror was unveiled in Riverview Park, more than 12 years after the September 11, 2001 attacks. In February 2023, Sons of The American Legion Squadron 189 dedicated a POW/MIA monument in the park's Veterans Memorial Circle. The American Legion reported that Squadron 189 in Sebastian raised over $7,000 for the black granite stone, which carries stars made from brass grommets taken from retired flags: six for the branches of the armed forces and two for the missing. Sebastian Daily reported in January 2023 that the stone was dedicated to more than 82,000 Americans still unaccounted for since World War I.

American Legion Post 189 runs Sebastian's Memorial Day ceremony at 11 a.m. at Riverview Park, with speeches, a roll of veterans who died that year, a rifle salute and music.

American Legion Post 189 runs the Memorial Day program. For May 30, 2022, Sebastian Daily listed the post's annual ceremony at 11:00 am at Riverview Park (Veterans Memorial), with attendees asked to arrive by 10:30 am for a ceremony of about one hour. The 2022 program included the Pledge of Allegiance, an invocation, speeches by Sebastian Mayor Jim Hill and Vice Mayor Fred Jones, a 21 gun salute, music by the Sebastian High School Marching Band and the Boy Scouts of America. Bleachers were set up on the park lawn, and folding chairs were welcome.

The roll call of the dead is the core of the Sebastian observance. In 2010, the ceremony at the Veterans Memorial at Riverview Park included the names of 91 veterans from the Sebastian area who had died since the previous Memorial Day, each name followed by a toll on a bell, Vero News reported. The 2010 program also listed an honor roll of deceased veterans, a wreath laying and blessing, an honor guard salute and taps.

The day continues at the posts. After the 2022 ceremony attendees were invited to the Veterans of Foreign Wars hall at 815 Louisiana Ave in Sebastian for a light lunch, and in 2010 American Legion Post 189 and VFW Post 10210 hosted an open house with food after the observance at the park.

Times and crowds have shifted a little over the years. The 2010 observance at Riverview Park was scheduled to begin at 10:45 a.m., a quarter hour earlier than the current Sebastian start. On Memorial Day 2014, when the Global War on Terror monument was unveiled, Vero News described one of the largest crowds ever to grace the lawn of Riverview Park, with miniature American flags placed throughout the park and wreaths laid in honor of veterans. The City of Sebastian decorated the grounds for that ceremony, and the Veterans Advisory Council presented the new stone.

Sebastian observes Veterans Day with an 11 a.m. ceremony at the Riverview Park Veterans Memorial, organized in 2025 by the City of Sebastian and American Legion Post 189.

Veterans Day at Riverview Park is a shared city and veterans event. The November 11, 2025 ceremony was organized by the City of Sebastian and American Legion Post 189 as a public event with speeches and tributes, with the city listing (772) 589-5330 for information. In 2020 the VFW 10210 and American Legion Post 189 of Sebastian hosted the observance at Riverview Veterans Park on Wednesday, November 11, and Sebastian Daily reported that most attendees wore face masks.

The ceremonies draw city and county officials. Sebastian Daily listed Sebastian Mayor Ed Dodd, City Manager Paul Carlisle, Police Chief Dan Acosta, Indian River County Sheriff Eric Flowers, County Commissioner Joe Flescher and Council members Fred Jones and Chris Nunn at the 2020 Veterans Day ceremony. On November 11, 2014, Vero News counted hundreds in Riverview Park as the flag flew above the Veterans Memorial, with Mayor Bob McPartlan among the guests.

The supporting cast in Sebastian has been consistent. The 2014 ceremony included members of American Legion Post 189 and VFW Post 10210, the Sebastian River High Band, the Sebastian River High School Navy Junior ROTC color guard, Cub Scout Pack 589, the post auxiliaries, the Sebastian Area Veterans Honor Guard and the Legion Riders, according to Vero News. The same report described dozens of veterans in the crowd who had served in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and Korea, along with a few World War II veterans, representing the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine.

The Sebastian ceremonies start two hours after the countywide 9 a.m. observances at Veterans Memorial Island Sanctuary in Vero Beach, so residents can attend both.

Indian River County holds its main observances in Vero Beach earlier in the morning. On November 11, 2025 the Veterans Council of Indian River County hosted its Annual Veterans Day Ceremony at 9:00 am at Veterans Memorial Island Sanctuary, a countywide observance with full military honors, Sebastian Daily reported. The same schedule gap, 9 a.m. in Vero Beach and 11 a.m. at Riverview Park in Sebastian, has applied on Memorial Day since at least 2012.

North of the county line, the Barefoot Bay Veterans Day service in Brevard County, sponsored by American Legion Post 366, was set for 11:00 am on November 11, 2025, after a golf cart parade. In Sebastian, the Sebastian Elks Lodge offered a free breakfast for veterans on Sunday, November 9, 2025, two days before the Riverview Park ceremony.