Firefighters and first responses will be celebrated this weekend during the annual Biloxi Fireman’s Day Parade and the Stephen Siller Tunnels to Tower 5K and Climb.
Dozens of fire trucks from across the Coast will parade downtown Saturday beginning at 10 a.m. on Howard Avenue. Teh procession begins at the intersection of Main Street and Howard Avenue, and it will travel westward on Howard Avenue, ending at West End Hose Co. No. 3, the city fire museum, where an open house will offer hamburgers, hot dogs, chips and soft drinks.
The Biloxi Fireman’s Day parade is a throwback to a tradition of the late 1800s, to an era when the annual parade was once as popular as today’s Mardi Gras parades.
Also on Saturday, at 5 p.m., the annual Stephen Tunnel to Towers 5K Run and Climb takes place. The event begins at the Ocean Springs Harbor, travels across the Biloxi Bay Bridge and to Margaritaville, where participants can, if they desire, can climb 110 floors, that’s the 22 floors of Margaritaville five times. This is a nod to those who climbed the 110 floors of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
The Tunnel-to-Towers event, in its fifth year on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, is a nationwide effort that benefits the Stephen Sillers Foundation, named in honor of the New York firefighter who, in full firefighter gear, ran from the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to the World Trade Center where he perished in the collapse of the World Trade Center.
Elsewhere this weekend: The Biloxi Visitors Center will host a “Getting off Auto Photography Workshop” with local photographer Alex North, Biloxi High takes on Hamond High at Indian Stadium, and Inkin’ The Coast will be at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. Over at the casino resorts, Michael Bolton and Anthony Cools will have shows at the Beau Rivage, and onetime Eagle Don Felder will entertain at the Hard Rock.
See the Biloxi Fireman’s Day Parade map
See the Tunnels to Tower event flyer
See the Biloxi Community Calendar
See the complete Coastwide weekend lineup
