Lambertville to hold annual Memorial Day Parade on Monday

The City of Lambertville will hold its annual Memorial Day Parade and commemorative ceremony on Monday, May 27.

The parade starts at the corner of North Union and Cherry streets at 9 a.m., and will follow North Union Street to Mount Hope Street, before returning north on Main Street and ending at Mary Sheridan Park on York Street.

Community organizations and area students are encouraged to participate and march in the parade with floats, bands, and decorated bicycles, the city said.

During the parade, representatives from VFW Post 7921 and American Legion Post 120 will stop to place a wreath at the city’s War Memorial, located outside City Hall.

At the conclusion of the parade, a formal commemoration ceremony will be held in the gazebo at Sheridan Park. The keynote speaker for this year’s ceremony is U.S. Army Veteran and Pittstown resident Robert Looby, a member of the New Jersey Veterans’ Services Council Member and former trustee of the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial Foundation

Memorial Day honors the men and women in the U.S. military who gave their lives in service to their country, as opposed to Veterans Day, which celebrates the service of all U.S. military veterans.

For many Americans, Memorial Day also marks the beginning of the traditional summer holiday season.

Memorial Day started out as “Decoration Day” after the Civil War. Union Army veterans would decorate the graves of their fallen brethren with flowers. By the 1900s, the holiday had incorporated Confederate traditions, and became Memorial Day.

Today, many observe the holiday by visiting cemeteries and memorials and placing flowers or flags on the graves of those who died in military service, and many towns across the country, like Lambertville, hold parades.