Memorial Day Weekend 2024: Events, Parades Around Eastern Montco

EASTERN MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA — Several events will get everyone in the patriotic spirit this holiday weekend, including a parade, a service, and a concert.

They are part of a nearly 160-year tradition that pays tribute to military personnel who lost their lives in service to their country.

Below are some other events and parades nearby.

As the observance has changed over the years, many families also use Memorial Day as an occasion to visit Warminster cemeteries and leave flowers at the graves of family members, regardless of whether they served in the military.

Memorial Day Weekend is also the unofficial kickoff to summer in Eastern Montgomery County.

Below are more ways to spend the weekend:

• Horsham Township Post 9788 & Auxiliary invites all men and women who have served, All Post 9788 members, family, friends, and the community to join us as we remember the men and women who gave their lives while serving in the U.S. military. Arrive by 6 p.m. The ceremony will begin at 6:15 p.m. We hope you'll join us as we pause to remember our country's greatest heroes. The event is rain or shine.
• The annual Collegeville-Trappe Memorial Day Parade is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. on May 29 at the Augustus Lutheran Church, 717 W. Main St., in Trappe. The parade, led by the Trappe VFW, will continue down Main Street before turning right onto West First Avenue at the Trappe Shopping Center, according to a post on the Collegeville borough website.
• In Hatfield Borough, the Hatfield American Legion Post 933 will host the town’s Annual Hatfield Memorial Day Parade, starting at 9 a.m. on May 29 at the Veterans Memorial at Broad Street, Market Street and East Lincoln Avenue. Post members will place wreaths in front of the monument, reenactors will fire a musket salute, and the flag on the flagpole will be changed before the parade begins. For more information follow “Hatfield American Legion Post 933” on Facebook.
• Warrington Memorial Day Ceremony will be held Saturday at 11 a.m. at Igoe Porter Wellings Memorial Field, 3095 Bradley Road, Chalfont. The 2024 honoree is William E. Focht, Sr., Air Force, Vietnam.

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.