Westfield Memorial Day Parade on Sunday

The Westfield Memorial Day parade may be the oldest, continuously held such parade in the country, according to this year's organizer, Burt Hale. It has been held every year since 1894, now customarily on the Sunday before Memorial Day.
It will kick off at 2PM on Sunday, in front of the Westfield Fire Station at the corner of East Street and Miner Street.

The parade is not a tightly choreographed spectacle, it is a small-town coming together for fun and fellowship to honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Participants each year include Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, Little League teams, a Fife and Drum Corps from Cromwell; sometimes there have been kids cheerleading groups, motorcycle clubs. The Westfield Fire Department organizes the parade, and shows off their old fire-fighting equipment. Fire departments from Middlefield, Durham, Cromwell, and sometimes the Middletown Central District also show their beautiful trucks. Mr. Hale told me that everybody is welcome to show up and march in the parade.

The parade will travel from the Fire Station north on East Street, to pay respects to a veteran buried at a cemetery there. The parade will then turn around, go past the Fire Station again and stop at the cemetery on Miner Street to honor veterans buried there.