Vernon's 3-Way Memorial Day Observance Lives On

VERNON, CT — Vernon will again observe Memorial Day with a pair of parades and a unique ceremony and an honored guest.

Here is the lineup:

Memorial Day Parade in Rockville — Monday, May 27

The town-wide Memorial Day parade and observance is slated for Monday and is hosted by the Town and the American Legion. The parade steps off at 10 a.m. from Northeast School and then pauses briefly at Grove Hill Cemetery for an observance at Lugg Field. The parade then resumes and continues from Hale Street to Grove Street to East Main Street and into downtown Rockville. A ceremony follows the parade in Central Park in front of Town Hall. A Connecticut Air National Guard C-130 flyover is expected about 11 a.m.

The parade will feature Vernon veterans riding in antique cars, the 100-member Vernon Center Middle School Band, the Rockville High School Band, the 1048th Transportation Co. of the Connecticut Army National Guard, Vernon Police, the Town of Vernon Fire Department and the Freedom Riders Motorcycle Club. Members will march and have two vehicles in the parade.

The parade grand marshal is Edward Sumski, a Vernon resident and World War II veteran who served as an aircraft mechanic with the Army Air Forces in the Pacific Theater.

The New England Civil War Museum on the second floor of Town Hall will be open from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. The Sphinx Motor Patrol will entertain spectators before the parade in downtown Rockville.

Memorial Day Parade, Talcottville — Sunday, May 26

The parade forms at 9 a.m. at Talcottville Congregational Church, then proceeds to Talcottville Cemetery for a short ceremony and the reading of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. The event is billed as "one of the shortest parades you will ever find," and has been a community tradition for years.

Memorial Day observance, Grove Hill Cemetery — Thursday, May 23

Members of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War and of the New England Civil War Museum will place flags at the graves of Civil War veterans buried in Vernon’s historic Grove Hill Cemetery.

There will be a rededication ceremony at Thomas F. Burpee's grave at 7 p.m., followed by a firing of three rounds from Civil War era muskets and a reading of the names of all of the soldiers buried at Grove Hill. Access the cemetery off Hale Street. Burpee was a captain in Company D of the 14th Connecticut Infantry.