Ashfield

The Town of Ashfield will hold a Memorial Day Parade on Monday, May 27, starting at the Town Hall at 10 a.m., rain on shine.

Bernardston

The Bernardston Memorial Day parade will kick off from the Four Leaf Clover at 10 a.m. sharp and proceed to Center Cemetery. Local radio personality Nick Danjer will give the keynote address, Dawn Mayo will sing the National Anthem and the Falltown String Band will perform. There will be a chicken barbecue at the Vet’s Club on Hartwell Street in the afternoon.

Colrain

The Colrain Memorial Day ceremonies will begin with a parade that will step off from the back of West Branch Cemetery at 123 Foundry Village Road at 10 a.m. on Monday, May 27. It will follow the roads around the cemetery to the bridge over West Branch River. A ceremony will be conducted on the bridge. The parade will then continue into the cemetery where the main ceremony will be conducted.

Deerfield

The Deerfield Memorial Day Committee has organized a ceremony on Monday, May 27, at 11:10 a.m., to be held behind Deerfield Academy’s administration building. Following the ceremony, there will be a brief procession to Old Albany Cemetery.

Erving

The Erving Memorial Day ceremony will begin on Monday, May 27, with a parade at 10 a.m. starting in Erving Center at the Riverfront Park and ending at the veterans’ memorial at Town Hall. There will be a ceremony followed by a reception at Fire Station One.

Gill

The Gill Memorial Committee invites the public to participate in the Memorial Day service on Sunday, May 26, at Gill Church at 10 a.m. The church service will be followed by a service at the veterans’ memorial across the street, honoring those who sacrificed their lives serving our country. There will be a rose presentation to those present who have a deceased military family member. The Northfield VFW and the Oak Ridge Detachment Marine Corps League will attend.

Greenfield

Greenfield has scheduled its annual Memorial Day parade for Monday, May 27, starting at 10 a.m. The parade will form in the Greenfield Middle School parking lot at 9:30. The route is as follows: South on Federal Street for services at the Federal Street Cemetery honoring those killed in the Revolutionary War. Then south on Federal, east on Church Street, south on Franklin Street and west on Main Street, where services for veterans killed in the Spanish-American War will take place at the library. Marchers will proceed to the Greenfield Common to pay respect to veterans killed in the Civil War. The parade will continue west on Main Street, and end at the Veterans’ Mall for services honoring those killed in World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam. The guest speaker will be Christopher Demars, retired sergeant major and veteran service officer.

Warrior Writers is hosting the third annual Memorial Day reading featuring veteran readers and an open mic session on Saturday, May 25, at 2 p.m. at Poet’s Seat Tower in Greenfield. Each open mic reader will have up to five minutes to speak. All participants are invited to bring chairs or blankets. For more information, please contact Eric Wasileski at ericwasileski@gmail.com.

Leyden

Selectboard Chairman Bill Glabach will lead a Memorial Day service on Monday, May 27, the Town Common at 10:30 a.m. Afterward there will be pastries and coffee, sponsored by the Council on Aging.

Montague Center

The Memorial Day service sponsored by the Montague Center Fire Association will be held on the Montague Center Common on Sunday, May 26, starting at 11:15 a.m. The Montague Veterans Committee as well as members of the First Congregational Church and the fire department will participate.

Northfield

The Northfield Memorial Day parade will step off from Trinitarian Congregational Church at 147 Main St. at 10 a.m. on Monday, May 27, and will continue to the war memorial at Town Hall.

Orange

The Orange Memorial Day parade will kick off at the Old Tully Fire Station in north Orange at 9 a.m., moving to the Tully Cemetery at 340 Tully Road and finally to the new Tully Fire Station. At 11 a.m., a downtown parade will start at the post office, 72 South Main St., and will go to the main downtown square, down East Main Street and to Memorial Park.

Rowe

Rowe will be having its Memorial Day program on Sunday, May 26, at the Veterans War Memorial on the Town Common at 10:30 a.m. It will involve patriotic songs, reading of the roster, reading of historical poems and a military gun salute.

South Deerfield

The Deerfield Memorial Day Committee has organized a parade that will step off on Monday, May 27, at 8:20 a.m. from Frontier Regional School and will proceed to South Deerfield’s Town Common. There will then be a 45-minute ceremony on the common, featuring speaker Kathy Belanger of Deerfield, an American Gold Star Mother. The Frontier band and other local schools will also participate. After the ceremony, the parade will continue 2 miles through town to the various cemeteries.

Shelburne Falls

Shelburne Falls Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 8503 will provide the Color Guard for the Buckland and Shelburne Falls Memorial Day remembrance. The Buckland Center parade will start at 8 a.m. The Shelburne Falls parade will start at 10 a.m. All veterans are welcome to participate.

Sunderland

A procession will start on Friday, May 24, at 6 p.m. at the Town Hall and will continue down Route 47 to Riverside Cemetery. The Frontier Regional High School Marching Band will provide music during the parade and a special patriotic medley at the cemetery. Local veterans and the honor guards from VFW Post 271 and the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office will also participate. Sunderland’s oldest veteran, Dan Gunn, will be recognized along with the top students from Sunderland in the graduating class at Frontier. The Sunderland Firefighters Association will provide hot dogs and beverages on the grounds behind the Town Office Building after the parade. In the event of rain, the Memorial Day ceremonies will be held in the Bennett Gymnasium at the Sunderland Elementary School commencing at 6 p.m.

Turners Falls

Memorial Day ceremonies begin on Monday, May 27, at 10:15 a.m. at Veterans Memorial Park on Avenue A. There will be speeches from various veterans’ groups and the Montague Elks Lodge will perform its 11th-hour ceremony. In the event of bad weather, the ceremonies will be moved to Montague Lodge No. 2521 at 1 Elk Ave.

Warwick

Trinitarian Congregational Church will host a Memorial Day service at 1 p.m. on Monday, May 27. After that, attendees will march to Fellows Memorial, then to the cemetery to hear a recitation of the Gettysburg Address.

Whately

The annual Memorial Day activities will take place on Sunday, May 26. A church service begins at 10 a.m.; the parade forms in front of the church at 11:50. Marchers proceed to the Center Cemetery for a gun salute and return to the common where the Veterans of Foreign Wars will pay its respects to our veterans. This year’s speaker is Racheal Otto, post commander-elect who served in the Air Force in Iraq. A wreath will be placed at the Memorial Monument. The Historical Society’s museum will be open from noon to 2 p.m. There will be food, free ice cream, face-painting and music.

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