KENT, Conn.—A decision will be made by 5 p.m. Sunday whether Monday’s weather will be too threatening to hold the traditional Memorial Day parade. Forecasts currently show rain expected in the morning with clearing in the afternoon.
Parks and Rec Director Matt Frasher will make the call on Sunday. According to Brent Kallstrom, commander of Hall-Jennings American Legion Post 153, a ceremony will be held either at Kent Center School or the town hall if the parade is cancelled.
Even if the parade is held, there will be some alterations this year to the traditional parade route. The route progresses from Kent Center School, starting at 9:30 a.m., and stops at St. Andrew’s cemetery where the honor guard fires a salute. It then pauses near the Civil War memorial at the intersection of routes 341 and 7, while a second volley is fired and a wreath is laid in front of the Veterans Memorial near Swift House.
A student will read the Gettysburg address at the Civil War monument before the line of march proceeds north on Route 7 to the library. “We will have an abbreviated ceremony at the library because it is such a construction site,” Kallstrom said. “The original library was a memorial to the Kent men who died in World War I and the first selectmen normally reads their names, the band plays and someone sings a patriotic song.”
But this year, the parade will pause briefly at the library, continue up to the Congregational Church where there will be ice cream and then march to the Town Hall, where the speeches and music will take place.
Kallstrom reported that the Veterans Memorial Committee wants to move the memorial from its Route 341 location to the Town Hall campus. He said former first selectman Marty Lindenmayer will explain the moved and kick off fundraising during Monday’s ceremonies.
On May 30, at the Goodhill Cemetery, Kent’s Revolutionary War Patriot, Dr. Oliver Fuller, will be honored at 11 a.m.
