People serving in the military will be honored during traditional Memorial Day events Monday in Rumford and Mexico.
The annual parade kicks off at 9 a.m. from Canal Street in Rumford and winds its way down Congress Street, down Rumford Avenue to Waldo Street, Lincoln Avenue, then across the so-called red bridge into Mexico and to the Mexico Greens.
Along the way, a ceremony with former state Sen. Norman Ferguson as featured speaker will be held at the Rumford rotary. Wreathes will be laid in honor of fallen service people. The Mountain Valley High School band will play, the Rumford Association for the Advancement of the Performing Arts will sing, and the names of soldiers and sailors serving overseas may be read, said parade organizer and commander of American Legion Post 24 Joe Martineau.
At the Mexico Greens, Town Manager Joseph Derouche will serve as featured speaker. The names of fallen soldiers will be read with a bell rung for each person. Wreathes will be laid at the memorial.
Derouche said he is trying to get the names of soldiers and sailors serving in the Middle East from the River Valley’s 10 towns to be read during the ceremony. He is also planning to make presentations to the families of these service people during the ceremony.
“It is important that we send a message to our troops that we support them,” he said, “and the families need to know that we support them.”
Public works employees recently put yellow ribbons throughout the town in honor of service people.
Martineau said the local chapter of the Civil Air Patrol cadets will serve as color guard for the parade, with the group’s captain, Mary Eastman, serving as parade marshal. Several civic groups, Boy and Girl scout troops, and other organizations are expected to participate in the parade.
Anyone wishing to take part should line up on Canal Street by 8:30 a.m.
Veterans groups will also lay wreathes at the Rumford Center memorial at 7:30 a.m. that morning.
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