NORFOLK, Va. - Thousands lined Waterside Drive and Granby Street in Downtown Norfolk on Saturday for the annual NATO Parade of Nations.
The parade comes during the long-running Norfolk NATO Festival, which is celebrating 75 years of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) between more than 30 countries in North America and Europe.
This year's parade featured NATO's newest members, Sweden and Finland, which joined the alliance in 2024 and 2023, respectively, following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
"Sweden has longtime been a partner of NATO, although we were not members, but that [shifted] rapidly in Sweden," said Tobias Harryson, Deputy National Liaison Officer for Sweden at NATO Allied Command Transformation in Norfolk.
Harryson, who has only been in the United States six weeks, says Sweden has much to contribute as a member of NATO.
"Although we are a small country, we build our own fighters, we build our own ships. We have a lot of technology knowledge and so forth when it comes to the military and we're good partners," he told News 3.
Despite the seriousness of the situation overseas, Harryson and several others from the Swedish delegation made the most of their first Parade of Nations, sporting Pippi Longstocking wigs in a float decked out in the Ikea logo and photos of ABBA. Music from the popular Swedish group blared from speakers as the float moved through Downtown.
"I came right into the float-building here so this is my first mission," said Harryson.
Click HERE for a full list of Norfolk NATO Festival events.
