Pearl River Parade Is Highlight Of Memorial Day Weekend

PEARL RIVER, NY — The upcoming Memorial Day parade in Pearl River is part of a nearly 160-year tradition that pays tribute to military personnel who lost their lives in service to their country.

It is the highlight of the three-day Memorial Day Weekend — May 27-29 this year. There are also events in nearby Blauvelt, Sparkill, Tappan, Orangeburg, Piermont and Nyack.

Events and parades nearby:

Friday

Clarkstown: Memorial Day Ceremony, 11 a.m., Street Community Center, 31 Zukor Road, New City. Refreshments: noon - 1 p.m.

Sunday

Montebello: ceremony 9 a.m. at Montebello Village Hall

Tappan: Memorial Day observance, 10 a.m., Raymond W. DeMeola VFW Memorial Post 1615 / Veterans Walkway of Heroes, Independence Avenue and Lester Drive

Monday

Countywide

Memorial Day watch fires sponsored by the Vietnam Veterans of America are held annually throughout Rockland County to remember soldiers who are in service abroad and the troops who didn't return from war. The watch fires will be lit at 11:30 p.m. May 29 and burn for 24 hours at four locations:

• Bowline Point Park in Haverstraw
• Eugene Levy Memorial Park on Route 45 in Pomona
• The top of Clausland Mountain in Orangeburg
• The east end of the Piermont Pier

Anyone wishing to retire flags can do so at any of the locations. A ceremony will be held at each of the four locations.

Blauvelt: Blauvelt Lions Club Memorial Day Ceremony at 12 p.m. in Lions Park

Congers: The annual Memorial Day Parade starts at the Congers/Valley Cottage Volunteer Ambulance Corps building. A memorial will follow at the VMA building on Lake Road. The parade is sponsored by the Veterans Memorial Association of Congers.

Hillburn: The annual Memorial Day parade and service starts at 9 a.m.

Nyack: The annual parade hosted by the Charles and Raymond O. Blauvelt / Nyack Post 310 American Legion starts at 11 a.m. from the Artopee Way municipal parking lot (55 Artopee Way). Route is Main Street and Franklin to Broadway, turning left on Depew to Nyack Memorial Park. This year it honors Bruce W. Cameron, Grand Marshal for the parade. The ceremony follows at the base of the WWI/WWII Monument.

Orangeburg: The James H. Anderson American Legion Post 1199 Gun Salute is at noon at 61 Hunt Road.

Pearl River: Pearl River American Legion John H. Secor Post 329 to host the annual Memorial Day Parade. Contingents line up at 9:45 a.m., parade starts at 10:15 a.m. from KeyBank, heading south to Braunsdorf Park by the police booth for the Memorial Day Service at 11 a.m.

Piermont: Piermont Engine Hose Co #1 hosts. Parade starts at 10 a.m. in front of VFW Post 7452 of Piermont to Kennedy Park for a Memorial Day Ceremony.

Sparkill: John M. Perry Post 1044 American Legion of Palisades/Sparkill Memorial Day Services holds the Palisades Ceremony at 9 a.m. at the War Monument in Triangle Square at the intersection of Closter Road and Rte. 9W. Then at 11:30 am, the parade and ceremony in Sparkill to start at the Sparkill Firehouse and finish at Depot Square Town Park for the Memorial Day Ceremony, approximately 11:50 a.m.

Stony Point: The annual Memorial Day parade kicks off at 9:30a a.m. on TenEyck Street. The parade proceeds to 9W then to Smith Street, Hudson Avenue., East Main and concludes at Town Hall.

Tappan: Carl A. Schelin Post 1271 American Legion, Tappan and the Volunteer Fire Association – 9:30 a.m. ceremony at the Fireman’s Memorial at the Tappan Firehouse; the parade starts at 11 a.m. at the German Masonic Park with a wreath laying ceremony at the Tappan Triangle.

The Rockland County Veterans' Coordinating Council hosts a ceremony at the Gary Onderdonk Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Suffern and a ceremony at the Frederick Loescher Veterans Cemetery in Spring Valley.

Memorial Day Weekend is also the unofficial kickoff to summer in Pearl River. Below are more ways to spend the weekend:

• Joey G’s Nyack Food Tour - Classic Saturday tour
• Sheep and Wool Festival at Fiber Craft Studio, 275 Hungry Hollow Rd, Chestnut Ridge
• Hudson Valley Resident Free Day May 28th at DIA:Beacon

The history of Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, dates back to 1868, when Gen. John A. Logan called for a day of remembrance to honor the Northern lives lost amid battle during the Civil War that had ended just a few years earlier, according to History.com. As time passed, more and more people called it Memorial Day, and it became a federal holiday in 1971.

Waterloo, New York, is considered the birthplace of Memorial Day. The town’s observance on May 5, 1866, predated Logan’s call for a day of remembrance. Local businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers and flags.

Until World War I, the holiday honored only those soldiers who died while fighting for the Union in the War, as Southern states honored their war dead on a separate day. After the 116,000-plus American deaths in World War I, the tradition changed to remember all who have died while serving in the military.

Every year, a national moment of remembrance is held at 3 p.m. local time on Memorial Day. No matter where they are or what they’re doing, Americans are asked to pause for one minute in silence to remember military personnel who have given their lives in service to their country. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, the midday time was chosen because it’s a time when many Americans will be enjoying their freedoms on a national holiday.

See an event we missed? Email Lanning.Taliaferro@patch.com.