GORHAM – Throngs lined the route of Gorham’s Memorial Day parade on Monday, and many in the crowd waved flags as parade units marched past through the village.
“From South Street on up through Main Street to Eastern Cemetery, the parade route was very nicely crowded,” said Cindy Hazelton, director of Gorham Recreation Department that organized the parade and the ceremony. “I know it means a great deal to our veterans to see the community come out for the parade.”
The parade featured color guards, uniformed active duty military personnel and veterans, marching bands, youth groups, horses and vintage vehicles.
“As far as participants in the parade this year, yes, we had more than perhaps any other parade we’ve organized to date,” Hazelton said. “It was great to have so many groups join us and pay tribute to our veterans on Memorial Day.”
Before the parade rolled onward to Eastern Cemetery on Main Street, the parade paused on South Street at Phinney Park, where scouts laid a wreath at a veterans monument.
At the cemetery observance, Dan Howard, commander of VFW Post 10879 in Gorham, and the Rev. Tim Higgins, rector of St. Ann’s Episcopal Church in Windham, spoke.
Earlier in the morning, VFW veterans fired a salute and Don Snow laid a wreath in an observance at Hillside Cemetery on Huston Road. Then VFW members gathered on the Route 202 bridge, where Alan Reed cast a wreath into the Presumpscot River.
The Gorham Middle School Band on Monday marches along Johnson Road adjacent to Eastern Cemetery where a ceremony concluded Memorial Day activities in Gorham.
Don Snow of Buxton, a member of VFW Post 10879 in Gorham, places a wreath in a Memorial Day observance at Hillside Cemetery on Huston Road in Gorham.
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