Memorial Day Parade Committee Finalizes Plans

The nearly final preparations for the 2023 Franklin Memorial Day Parade and Ceremony, were reviewed in detail by more than a dozen volunteers meeting last night at the Franklin Senior Center.

And the number of details involved is staggering. There are multiple marching groups from schools and scouts, as well as veterans, participation  by Fire Department units who help provide transportation for older veterans not longer able to March. Other volunteers provide supplemental transportation. 

There are buglers, crowd control personnel, set up, take down, security, safety. first aid, signage decorations, flags, chairs, crowd control barriers and a whole lot more.  Orchestrating much of the activity is Veterans Service Officer Shannon  Nisbett and her assistant Debra Martin plus members of the American Legion and VFW and many others as well.

Those participating in the parade will begin to assemble just after 9 am on Monday, the 29th near the Dean College MBTA Station. The parade then officially kicks off at 10:30 near Dean College and proceeds down School Street to West Central, up Beaver, and ends at the Common. Along the way there are ceremonies at the war memorial at the center of the Dean campus, and at Union Street and and  St. Mary's Cemeteries. 

The event culminates in formal ceremonies at noon and remarks by this year's Grand Marshall, Mark Ellis, a long-time activist for local veterans and veteran's causes, in "church square" opposite St. Mary's church.