Stamford Cancels Memorial Day Parade, To Hold 5K Instead

STAMFORD, CT — The city has cancelled its annual Memorial Day Parade this year and will instead hold both a 5K run and a remembrance ceremony. The 5k event will take place Monday, May 27 in Cummings Park from 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., and the ceremony will being at 11 a.m. at Cummings Beach.

According to Communications Assistant To The Mayor Arthur Augustyn, the actual run will start around 8:30 a.m.

"The traditional 5K takes the average runner like 30 minutes to complete," Augustyn said. "We’ve given everyone two hours, so you could walk it if you want or bring a baby stroller. It’s mainly just to have more people involved in the event and hopefully attend the ceremony afterward, which is really the main thing."

Augustyn said the decision to hold a 5K instead of the parade this year was a communal decision made by the city's Office of Operations, which sets up the event every year. Their main goal was to have more people involved in the community on this important day

"The main concern was there was declining attendance to these parades, even though there’s more and more being spent on marketing resources," Augustyn said. "At the end of the day we want people to be aware of Memorial Day and understand its significance and sort of honor that significance. I believe the decision was made for a 5K because it has shown across other events that it pulled in new crowds very easily."

Augustyn also emphasized the decision to cancel the parade was not made in a vacuum.

"We made this change with support from the community," Augustyn said. "It’s not like we were told not to do it and we did it anyway. There’s some excitement for it."

While no decision has been made regarding if the parade will be held next year, the city will be paying attention both to how this year's event goes and whether there is an outcry to bring the annual event back.

"They’ve been saying they’re open to doing things differently," Augustyn said. "If people really want the parade, I’m sure they’ll listen to the community, but the numbers don’t lie. We’ve been doing the same thing for a number of years and fewer and fewer people go, so something has to change. Maybe just trying to change it will invigorate everyone to attend the parade more so next year, but we’re going to see how this one goes for now."