Past Event: Memorial Day Parade 2009....

Memorial Day is soon approaching everyone, so here are some details for the parade portion.
Memorial Day, May 25th
Line-up is at 9:30am on Marlin St. (next to Family Fare grocery store).
Parade begins at 11:00am with a flyover from military helicopters.
After the parade we will drive to nearby parking lot for a photo opportunity.
After the photo opp, we will go to the main park where we were last year for a cookout.

Our BEST behavior is expected during this parade by everyone----NO BURNOUTS or tire chirping during the parade.

More detail are forthcoming, we will post 'em soon.

For the after the parade picnic and games go to this link: After the Parade Picnic and Games

We will be meeting at Family Fare(old felpausch) in Eaton Rapids between 9 and 9:15 am. At 9:30 sharp we will be moving to our spot in the parade line up. It will be very hard to get to our line up spot after this time as the streets on this part of town are not very wide and once the other parade units are in place it is hard to get through. So please be on time.

Only way I can participate is if you guys can garuntee I can be gone by noon!

Maxstealth04 wrote:Only way I can participate is if you guys can garuntee I can be gone by noon!

That may be a reach, don't know yet where we sit in the running order yet. With the parade starting at 11am, I don't know if we could pull that one off.

Just checked the 10 day weather forecast and it looks like Memorial Day weekend will be just spectacular! 72-75 degrees all weekend with SUN! Memorial Day so far shows 75 and sunny, can't wait, should be a great time!

Danstang wrote:Just checked the 10 day weather forecast and it looks like Memorial Day weekend will be just spectacular! 72-75 degrees all weekend with SUN! Memorial Day so far shows 75 and sunny, can't wait, should be a great time!

WOOOHOOOO :*woohoo*:

it should be alot of fun. :*woohoo*:

Here's the article friom Channel 3 news site in Lansing:


The Eaton Rapids community welcomed families of fallen soldiers from across the state for Memorial Day, and recognizing all 181 Michigan service-people killed in Afghanistan or Iraq.

Putting the memorial into Memorial day,next to the parade route, a wall listing all Michigan service men and women killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan or Iraq.

Last year at this time Gordy Dibler's Step-son, Byron, was classified missing in action.

Today, a different reality after learning last summer that his Step-son had been killed.

"This Memorial weekend is definitely different for us. It's the first one that Byron... we knew that he was killed. so its very special to us and we want to make sure we remember their families." Dibler said.

and this Step-dad had a lot of well-wishers this memorial day.

Including a K-9 showing off the flag,and a World War Two Vet riding in a motorcycle side car a la Indiana Jones.

The parade organizer, Patrick Rich, was next to another wall of names, brought in one by one by Eaton Rapids students, were posters listing every Michigan resident killed while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.

"This is all about the soldiers and the families with the hole in their hearts," said Rich.

One with a hole in her heart this Memorial Day was Judy Smith.

Her son Justin was killed in Baghdad in 2005, and she says it's helpful to be around those who know what she's feeling.

"Kind of every year you look forward to getting together with them and talking about our sons," Smith said.

A son remembered by the younger sons of this city.

Sons egged on as ABC 3's Hondo Carpenter emceed the action.

(come on we want to hear your mustangs... rev 'em if you got 'em.)

rev 'em they did.

The flag, a big enough tent for the entire community to gather under this Memorial Day.

An American history lesson in Eaton Rapids today,honoring soldiers past and present by way of bands, firetrucks, and hot rods.