Memorial Day 2017: Parades Planned in Royal Oak, Around County

ROYAL OAK, MI — Royal Oak’s Memorial Day parade will start Monday at 9 a.m. at Lincoln and Main streets. The parade will conclude at Main and Second Streets and followed by a service at 10:15 a.m. at the Veteran’s Memorial Plaza between City Hall and the Royal Oak Public Library.

The parade’s origins started with a service during World War II on Decoration Day, which later became Memorial Day. It has has grown since then to an event that attracts up to 7,000 people, the Royal Oak Daily Tribune reported.

“We’ll have about 55 groups marching in the parade this year that each have from five to 50 people in them,” Carl Hennessey, president of the Royal Oak Memorial Day Parade Committee that organizes volunteers and events, told the newspaper. “We get the biggest crowds of any of the parades here, including the St. Patrick’s Day and Christmas parades.”

(For more local news, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Royal Oak Patch, click here to find your local Michigan Patch. Also, follow us on Facebook, and if you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

This year, Girl Scout Brownies will place flower petals over the shrubs in front of the Veteran’s Memorial and hand out flowers to military veterans, according to the Daily Tribune. Royal Oak Memorial Society volunteers and others at 10 a.m. Saturday will place flags on about 2,500 veterans graves at Oakview Cemetery. Flags are supplied for anyone that wants to take part, the newspaper reported.

City leaders are encouraging children to decorate their bikes and join the parade with a family member or a veteran. Kinsey-Garret Funeral Home, located at 420. S. Lafayette, sponsors a free Decorate Your Bike & Ride in the Parade event from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Sunday for children.

Here’s a look at other Memorial Day celebrations:

• Great Lakes National Cemetery: The Great Lakes National Cemetery hosts its Annual Observance of Memorial Day at l p.m. Sunday, May 28, at 4200 Belford Road, Holly Township. Veterans, families, friends and the general public are invited to honor deceased veterans interred there. Michigan Army National Guard Col. Clark C. Barrett will be the keynote speaker. Patriotic music by Emily Esralian. The Holly VFW Post 5587 Honor Guard present the colors and a rifle salute. For more information, email Garth Wootten or call 248-858-0785. Volunteers are needed to place flags at 5 p.m. Friday, May 26 and to retrieve them at 5 p.m. Tuesday, May 30, at the cemetery. For more information, call Fred 248-459-5719.

• Memorial Day Celebration Concert: White Chapel Memorial Park Cemetery in Troy hosts a Memorial Day Celebration Concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 28 and The WWI Polar Bear Memorial Service at 11 a.m. Monday, May 29, at 621 W. Long Lake Road. Both events are free. The concert features patriotic songs. A boulevard lined with more than 400 American flags lead to the WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Persian Gulf War and POW/MIA veterans memorials and welcome visitors. For more information, visit www.whitechapelcemetery.com.

• Observance at City Hall: Berkley American Legion Post 374 participates at 11 a.m. Monday, May 29, in the City of Berkley Memorial Day Observance at City Hall and will pay tribute to fallen veterans at noon the same day, at 2079 W. Twelve Mile Road in the parking lot. A pot luck lunch will be shared with friends and guests.For more information, call 248-542-7668.

Photo by William Thomas Cain / Stringer / Getty Images News / Getty Images