Editor’s note: The following is a collection of Memorial Day events happening across Franklin County. Know of an event that wasn’t included? Email information to news@recorder.com.
Ashfield
The Memorial Day ceremony will be held Monday, May 25, at 10 a.m. on the town common. If it is raining, the ceremony will instead be held at Town Hall, 412 Main St.
Bernardston
The annual parade kicks off from South Street on Monday, May 25, at 10 a.m. and will proceed to Center Cemetery for the annual ceremony. The keynote speaker will be Justin Lawrence, president of the Cushman Library trustees. The program will feature music by the Falltown String Band, the Pioneer Valley Regional School Band, and an elementary school band made up of Bernardston and Northfield students. Students from Full Circle School will also participate. In the event of inclement weather, the ceremony will move to the United Church of Bernardston. After the program, the Bernardston Veterans Organization on Hartwell Street will be open for refreshments. The Veterans Organization will also host its annual chicken barbecue. Tickets are available from any club member.
Buckland
The annual Hat and Sock Parade starts at 8 a.m. on Monday, May 25, and runs along Upper Street in Upper Buckland. The parade is named as such because hats and socks are often the two parts of the uniform that will usually still fit a veteran long after they are no longer enlisted in the military. The parade will end at the Buckland Historical Society at 20 Upper St. During the parade, they will stop at cemeteries along the route.
Colrain
A ceremony and parade will be held on Monday, May 25, at 10 a.m. at West Branch Cemetery on Foundry Village Road. The parade will start on the bridge over West Branch River at 10 a.m. and continue into the cemetery where the main ceremony will be held.
Deerfield
The Memorial Day parade will start on Monday, May 25, at around 8:20 a.m. at Frontier Regional School. After a ceremonial gun salute, the parade will move from the school down North Main Street to the town common. At around 8:40 a.m., the annual ceremony will take place on the common before visits to nearby cemeteries. In the event of rain, the town will hold the ceremony inside the Frontier auditorium instead of the parade.
Erving
Erving residents are welcome to participate in wreath-laying ceremonies at four locations on Monday, May 25. The day will begin at 10 a.m. at the memorials at Fire Station 1, 10 East Main St., with the laying of a wreath and the lowering of flags. From there, the group will proceed to Center Cemetery to lower the flags and pay respects. After that, there will be a wreath placed and flags lowered at Veterans Memorial Field on Moore Street. Lastly, participants will proceed to the Veterans Memorial Bridge off of Lester Street that spans the Millers River to place a wreath into the river.
Gill
The Gill Memorial Committee will hold its observation of Memorial Day on Sunday, May 24, beginning at the Gill Church at 9:30 a.m. The program will end at the veterans monument with a rose ceremony, flag raising, gun salute and taps.
Greenfield
The city of Greenfield and the Upper Pioneer Valley Veterans’ Services District will recognize Memorial Day on Monday, May 25, with a parade and ceremony. The parade kicks off at 10 a.m. and begins to line up at 9:30 a.m. at Greenfield Middle School on Sanderson Street. The route is as follows:
- Proceed south on Federal Street for services at the Federal Street Cemetery honoring those killed in the Revolutionary War.
- Continue south on Federal Street, east on Church Street, south on Franklin Street and west on Main Street. Services for veterans killed in the Spanish-American War will be held at the Greenfield Public Library.
- March to the Greenfield Common to pay respects to veterans killed in the Civil War.
- Conclude by heading west on Main Street to the Veterans Mall for services honoring those killed in all wars.
The ceremony at the Veterans Mall is dedicated to service members who lost their lives in service to the nation, and will include the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem. Erin Anhalt, the city’s chief of staff and a Navy spouse, will deliver remarks. This year’s ceremony will also feature remarks by retired U.S. Army Brig. Gen. John Driscoll. Driscoll served in the United States Army for 33 years, including deployments for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He previously served in Greenfield’s own Company B, 104th Infantry Regiment as a mortar platoon leader, as the land component commander of the Massachusetts Army National Guard and as a former aide to the secretary of the Army.
All cemeteries in Greenfield will be flagged by Memorial Day.
Montague
- The country’s 250th anniversary will be celebrated along with remembrance of fallen veterans on Sunday, May 24, at 11:15 a.m. at the Montague Center Common. The guest speaker will be World War II veteran Lee Evers, who turned 103 years old in February. Refreshments will be served at the First Congregational Church of Montague. The event is hosted by the Montague Center Firefighters Association.
- A Memorial Day service will be held on Monday, May 25, at 10 a.m. at Soldiers Memorial Park on Avenue A in Turners Falls. Prayers and speeches honoring Montague residents who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces will be led by representatives of the Montague Selectboard, the Montague Elks Lodge and the Soldiers Memorial Committee.
New Salem
Ceremonies are planned for the town’s cemeteries on Sunday, May 24. Flags will be planted, an honor roll will be read and the bugle will be played at Center Cemetery at 11 a.m., Mountain View Cemetery at 11:30 a.m. and North New Salem Cemetery at noon.
Northfield
The Northfield Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9874 will hold a parade on Monday, May 25, starting at 10 a.m. at the Trinitarian Congregational Church, 147 Main St., and will continue down Main Street with stops at Mill Brook, Northfield Elementary School, Pentecost Cemetery and Town Hall for the laying of wreaths and for ceremonies. Those participating in the parade are advised to convene at the Trinitarian Congregational Church at 9:30 a.m.
Orange
A Memorial Day program is scheduled for Tully Cemetery, 350 Tully Road, at 9 a.m. on Monday, May 25.
Shelburne
At 10 a.m. on Monday, May 25, members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8503 will start in front of McCusker’s Market and will parade across the Iron Bridge into Shelburne before continuing up Bridge Street to Main Street, and stopping at Arms Cemetery. At the cemetery, there will be a ceremony honoring a Buckland veteran, Capt. Paul “Tucker” Looney, who was killed in the Vietnam War.
Sunderland
The Memorial Day parade on Friday, May 22, will step off from in front of the Town Office on School Street at 6 p.m. following a brief ceremony at the veterans memorial. The parade will proceed down South Main Street to Riverside Cemetery. After a ceremony at the cemetery, the parade will retrace the route back to the Town Office. In the event of rain, the event will move to the Sunderland Elementary School gymnasium.
Whately
The annual Memorial Day ceremony coordinated by the Whately Grange will be held on Sunday, May 24, beginning with a church service at the Whately Congregational Church at 10 a.m. The parade, led by the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post, will begin immediately after the church service. Owners of antique cars, trucks and tractors are invited to participate, and are advised to congregate at the church. This year’s ceremony has been dedicated to the memory of the late Jim Ross, U.S. Air Force veteran, who worked to improve the town’s war memorial site and update its list of veterans. Soloist Dusti Dufresne will sing “God Bless the U.S.A.” and the VFW will demonstrate the proper way to fold a flag. Jane Banash, Whately Grange member, will speak about nurses who served our country during war. After the ceremony, the Whately Historical Society’s 2026 exhibit, “Whately’s Great River,” will be open.