Veterans day is today and the tributes have been taking place all weekend.

The annual Veterans Day parade begins gathering in Oak Bluffs at 10:30 a.m. The parade starts outside of Nancy’s Restaurant on Lake avenue and winds its way towards Ocean Park. Afterwards, lunch will be served at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post building on Towanticut avenue.

The Steamship Authority will offer free travel for veterans throughout the day.

The tributes started much earlier in the day with the Avenue of the Flags tradition in Oak Grove Cemetery in Vineyard Haven, and the placing of flags at all the Island cemeteries.

In Edgartown, veterans will lay a commemorative wreath outside the courthouse at 9:30 a.m.

“Veterans Day is a remembrance of what we did and of the friends we left behind,” said Bob Tankard, the veterans outreach coordinator for Martha’s Vineyard Community Services. “I lost friends. Or our friends who did come back but didn’t come back the same. We are recognizing our work and what we did,”

Earlier in the weekend, on Saturday morning, there was a run/walk event to support veterans held at the Katama Airfield. The money raised went towards Martha’s Vineyard Community Services’ veteran services to help cover education, transportation, housing and other costs for Island veterans.

“All the proceeds are for veterans to help them through the winter,” Mr. Tankard said.

Mr. Tankard added that he hopes the veteran housing project that was approved by Oak Bluffs voters this June will soon break ground.

“It’s coming along real well, we’re hoping to break ground sometime in early spring in Oak Bluffs,” he said. “The actual opening will hopefully be in 2026, in the spring.”

The project is being completed by Island Housing Trust and the Cape and Islands Veterans Outreach Center, and will provide 12 units of affordable housing for veterans.