Fair Weather Expected for Memorial Day Parade

A cold and rainy weekend is forecast to break into a final day of fair weather just in time for this year's Memorial Day Parade as Woonsocket honors fallen service men and women.

The parade kicks off promptly at 10 a.m. from the corner of Cumberland & Clinton Streets, marching to Worral Street toward the Korean War/Vietnam War Memorial, where there will be a wreath laying ceremony, followed by the playing of Taps, and the Woonsocket High School band.

Then, the parade will march up Worral Street onto Social Street to the Civil War Memorial at Monument Square, where there will be another wreath laying ceremony and a recital of the Gettysburg Address.

From there they'll continue to Veteran's Memorial Bridge for another wreath laying ceremony. Members of the Woonsocket High School ROTC and the Elks Emblem Club will carry flowers to the bridge and throw them into the river. "That is symbolic of our veterans who lost their lives at sea," said said Ernest Boisvert, vice president of United Veterans Council of Woonsocket and grand marshal of the parade this year.

Also participating in this year's parade are the Woosnsocket Middle School Band, Woonsocket Fire Department Honor Guard, Woonsocket Police Department Honor Guard, Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Cub Scouts Pack # 2 and the Woonsocket ROTC.  

The parade will be held rain or shine, but recent forecasts indicate that won't be much of a problem.