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FORTY FORT — Area residents will have ample opportunities to honor those who gave their lives in service to their country on Monday as a host of Memorial Day parades are scheduled.
Parades and ceremonies will be held in Ashley, Dallas, Wyoming and West Wyoming, Exeter Borough and West Pittston, Wilkes-Barre, Wilkes-Barre Township, and the West Side.
Donald J. Williams is no stranger to the West Side event. His family has participated in the West Side Memorial Day Parade for five generations. The tradition hails back to 1891 when his great-grandfather, Edward Charles Williams, began participating in the parade.
This year’s march down Wyoming Avenue will mark the 125th parade for the Williams family. Donald will mark the anniversary by carrying a memorial wreath into the Forty Fort Cemetery and then reciting the Gettysburg Address during a post-parade ceremony.
“It’s a time when our family celebrates the patriotic spirit of our favorite holiday,” he said. “We haven’t missed a year even when the weather was bad.”
The parade, which begins at the intersection of Wyoming Avenue and Market Street at 10:30 a.m. and makes its way to the Forty Fort Cemetery, is considered the longest running Memorial Day Parade in the Wyoming Valley.
Williams, who now lives in Montgomery County, said he can remember the first time he joined his family in marching in the parade in the 1970s. He said the event has, to some extent, defined his family, providing them with a shared vision and reinforcing a sense of stability.
Forty Fort Mayor Andy Tuzinski encouraged residents to remember the somber reason underlying the holiday and the parade.
“This is a day for those who have given their lives in service to their country,” he said.
Tuzinski said he is implementing new practices this year to keep the parade flowing.
“We’ve had problems with people being dropped off at the end of the parade near the borough building,” he said “This year, we’ll be directing people to side streets for unloading.”
