Holiday events include parade

A number of events – including a parade down part of Pinecrest Road and Charles Bancroft Highway – will mark the town’s annual observance of Memorial Day on Monday.

Litchfield’s holiday events were inadvertently omitted in a roundup of area observances that appeared in Tuesday’s Telegraph.

Things get under way at 9:30 a.m., when parade participants gather at the middle school parking lot on McElwain Drive. The parade kicks off at 10, and will travel a roughly 1-mile route from McElwain, onto Pinecrest, then onto Bancroft Highway and end at the Historical Society at 255 Bancroft Highway.

There, town police and fire officials, with help from local Boy Scouts, will start off the program. The Campbell High band and chorus will perform, including the playing of Taps by trumpeters from the band.

At program’s end comes the doll carriage and bicycle parade, which will take place in the vicinity of the society building. The society itself will be open and be presenting a military display for visitors.

Meanwhile, various town veterans will be placing three different wreaths in brief ceremonies to honor the memory of their comrades. One will take place on the banks of the Merrimack River, to honor those lost at sea; another wreath will be placed at the World War I plaque on the historical society building, which is the old Town Hall; and the third will be placed at the Cutler Memorial Library at the town’s World War I and II memorial plaque.

Members of local Girl Scout troops will be doing their part, by placing small flags on graves in the cemetery behind the Presbyterian Church.

Some of the scheduled parade participants include fire and police departments, the Campbell High band, members of the School Board, Warren Adams’ antique fire apparatus; and a possible appearance by the famous Moxie-mobile.

– DEAN SHALHOUP