22 MAY 21, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Quiet tributes on Memorial Day due to pandemic
BY THE OLD TIMER
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
EDITORIAL@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
For decades, communities across
our neighborhood have spent
Memorial Day weekend not
only at barbecues and beaches, but
also at a litany of parades and vigils
honoring those brave soldiers who
sacrifi ced their lives in defense of
our country.
But this year, Memorial Day
weekend will be rather quiet across
Queens, as those same parades
and vigils have been postponed or
canceled altogether because of the
coronavirus pandemic gripping our
city and country.
Memorial Day is not just the unoffi
cial start to summer around Queens.
Every year, our communities spend
part of their weekend gathering for
these parades to applaud the many
veterans who march in them as a
small token of their appreciation.
Veterans groups across our community
are usually the primary force
behind these parades, spending the
better part of each year planning
everything from securing the proper
permits, to organizing marching
groups, to nominating grand marshals,
and so much more.
It’s not just a community service
for these organizations; it’s a source
of pride both in the country and in
the neighborhoods where they live
and work.
We gather that they feel a great
deal of sadness knowing that the
parades won’t go on as planned in
the interest of public safety. But while
the marches are stopped this year,
we want to take this opportunity to
recognize some of the local parade
organizers who every year go beyond
the call of duty to honor America on
Memorial Day.
The Allied Veterans Memorial
Committee of Ridgewood and Glendale
organizes one of the longestrunning
Memorial Day parades in
Queens. The organization is made
up of more than a dozen veterans
organizations in the communities
that work together to hold the annual
parade between both neighborhoods,
along Myrtle Avenue.
Ridgewood and Glendale had
their own separate parades until
the neighborhoods unifi ed for their
fi rst march together, in 1938. The
current parade route is along Myrtle
Avenue between the Glendale Veterans
Triangle at Cooper Avenue and
the Ridgewood Veterans Triangle at
Cypress Avenue.
The direction of the parade, east
or west, alternates each year. The
march begins in Glendale during oddnumbered
years, and in Ridgewood
Members of the St. Pancras School marching band are pictured at this Memorial Day Parade in the 1970s.
Ridgewood TImes archives
Girl scouts at the 2012 Ridgewood-Glendale Memorial Day Parade. File photo/Ridgewood Times
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