On Sunday, May 25 at 1 p.m., the Ledyard Lions Club will host its 21st annual Memorial Day Parade. Starting at the Memorial Gardens at the Ledyard fairgrounds, the parade will proceed down Route 117, turn left onto Colonel Ledyard Highway, bear left again onto Gallup Hill Road, and end in the Ledyard High School parking lot, a total distance of a little more than one mile. Ledyard Memorial Day Parade Chairman Steve Novic listed some of the regular yearly participants.
“The Ledyard Lions have a Fidelco guide dog float, and a float which commemorates the theme of the parade, which this year is ‘Proud to be an American,’” Novic said. “We have boy scouts, Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, Brownie Scouts, baseball troops, Miss Ledyard Fair girls, the Waves, which are a group of women [who were] in the Navy during WWII. We also have three fife and drum bands, the Ledyard High School band, and a silver coronet band. The Norwich Lions are also coming down with six horses and riders. The National Guard will be there, and anyone else who wants to be in the parade.”
Novic said that last year the parade attracted 863 participants and countless more onlookers, something he hopes will be duplicated this year.
Opening ceremonies including a wreath laying, a rendition of the national anthem, and a speech by the grand marshal will begin at 1 p.m. with the parade beginning shortly thereafter, around 1:20 p.m. One of the story lines this year is the age of the grand marshal.
“The grand marshal this year is a high school girl, which is the first time that’s happened that I’ve heard of,” Novic said. “Her name is Chelsea Bateman, and she wrote an award-winning essay, so we invited her down to be the grand marshal and she’s very excited about that. She’ll be riding in a ’58 Chevrolet convertible, which is absolutely beautiful.”
The parade will be followed with free refreshments at the high school for all parade participants and refreshments for sale to the general public.