Here’s who marches in what order and what takes place when in Darien’s 2019 Memorial Day Parade. Don’t forget: Darien EMS-Post 53’s Food Fair at Tilley Pond Park rounds out the day afterward.
— an announcement from the Darien Monuments and Ceremonies Commission
Your Memorial Day Handbook 2019
— You can watch the parade and ceremony, starting at 10 a.m., here.
Parade Order
Organization | Notes (including officials names or leaders of various contingents) |
Darien Police Dep’t Color Guard | Lieutenant John Lawlor |
Grand Marshal Pat Parlette | |
State Representative District 141 | Terrie Wood |
State Representative District 147 | Matt Blumenthal |
Town of Darien- First Selectman | Jayme Stevenson |
Town of Darien- Selectman | Pamela Sparkman |
Town of Darien- Selectman | Kip Koons |
Town of Darien- Selectman | Susan J. Marks |
Town of Darien- Selectman | Marc Thorne |
Darien High School Band | Jonathan Grauer, band director |
VFW Post 6933 Color Guard | Jeff Calcott |
VFW Post 6933 | Lenny Hunter- Post Commander |
American Legion Post 3 | Commander Al Papp- ’67 Mustang & Jeep |
Marine Corps League (Lock City Detachment) | Lock City Detachment- Iwo Jima Float |
CT NATIONAL GUARD | Co. A- 192nd Engineer Battalion |
Division 2 Leader | Lucy Berry |
Veterans Affairs City of Bridgeport | Bus |
Darien EMS–Post 53 | 5 vehicles |
Darien Historical Society | |
Darien Historical Society: Whaleboat | Revolutionary War Actors participating |
Darien Historical Society Cars | Bruce Sargent’s three Packards |
Masonic Lodge- Ivanhoe #107 | 2 Vehicles plus float |
Darien Chamber of Commerce | |
Darien Chamber of Commerce vehicle | John Breznen- Silverado pickup |
Darien Chamber of Commerce vehicle | Tyler Roland- ‘SCARGO’ |
Community Fund of Darien | |
Harney-Pender-Keady Irish Arts Foundation | Girls will dance en-route |
Darien Men’s Association | 6 cars |
PIVOT Ministries | 2 Vans |
Darien YMCA Gymnastics Team | John Schwartz |
Darien Sail & Power Squadron | John Pedersen |
Milford Volunteers Ancient Fife & Drum Corps | |
Noroton Heights Fire Department | Chief Shaun Volin |
Noroton Heights Fire Department Apparatus | |
Division 3 Leader | Becky Siciliano |
Darien School of Dance (YWCA) | Brigita Fulton |
Girl Scouts of Connecticut | Sueann Schorr |
Cub Scouts–Pack 56 | Royle School |
Cub Scouts–Pack 55 | Ox Ridge School |
Cub Scouts-Pack 155 | Holmes School |
Cub Scouts–Pack 161 | Hindley School |
Boy Scouts-Troop 35 | Sabina Harris |
Boy Scouts–Troop 53 | Grant Evans |
BSA Troop 219 (Girls) | Susie Flaherty |
Atria Darien | Veterans |
Antique Car (Williams ’28 Ford) | 1928 Ford model A Roadster |
Antique Car (Bealle) | Preston Bealle, 1964 Cadillac |
At Home in Darien | At least two vehicles |
Antique Car (Lefferts-’39 Jaguar) | 1939 Jaguar SS-100 Roadster |
Darien High School Girls Hockey Team | Jackie Cassidy |
Maplewood at Darien | Meghan Kurtzman |
Good Wife’s River Chapter D.A.R. | Beck Siciliano; Kathy Love |
Fairfield County Police Pipes & Drums | Darien Fire Department Band |
Darien Fire Department | Shane Smith |
Darien Fire Department Auxiliary | Karen Smith |
Darien Fire Department Apparatus | |
Division 4 Leader | Terry Gaffney |
Auto- Jeep (Carper) | Meredith Carper |
Darien Senior Activities Center | Joe Pankowski- 1930 Ford Model A Pickup; Ron Heinbaugh- 1931 Model A Coupe |
Kempo Karate of Darien | Michael Nahan |
Dance on the DL | Doreen Godfrey |
Democratic Town Committee | Frank Adelman |
Darien YMCA Adventure Guides | 8 Tribes; 7 floats; about 180 marchers |
Darien Green Team | Linda Goodyear |
Darien Nature Center | Leah Salmoni |
Darien Lions Club | 1947 Chrysler transporting Special Olympics |
NYS Court Officers Pipes and Drums | Noroton Fire Department Band |
Noroton Fire Department | John Hessmer |
Noroton Fire Department Apparatus |
Memorial Day Ceremony
Darien’s Monuments & Ceremonies Commission encourages all Parade participants and spectators to attend our Memorial Day commemorative ceremony which takes place in the Spring Grove Veterans Cemetery at parade’s end.
A brief tour of the cemetery, led by one of the commissioners, precedes the formal ceremony which lasts about twenty minutes.
Monuments and Ceremonies Commission Chairman Dave Polett is master of ceremonies and will introduce speakeers.
The ceremony will open with an invocation from Monsignor Surwillo and the singing of our national anthem by the Tudor Singers under the able direction of Mr. Chris Andrade.
Darien High School teacher Matt Pavia, co-author along with his father, Tony Pavia, of An American Town and the Vietnam War, will be our speaker.
First Selectman Jayme Stevenson will then read the names of Darien’s 92 servicemen who lost their lives in defense of our country in all conflicts from the Civil War on.
An honor guard unit from VFW Post 6933 will discharge three volleys to salute their fallen comrades, followed by echo Taps and a concluding prayer.
It has been said by many senior-citizens and veterans our Parade and Ceremony is a throwback to the time-honored events they recall from their younger days.
Come once, and you’ll remember it forever.
Ceremony Program
Here’s the excerpt of page 2 of the program (just above) as a PDF file
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