For the second year in a row, American Legion Post 326 will not host its annual Memorial Day parade down Main Street, from Saranac Avenue to the Legion’s building at the corner of School Street. Last year, the coronavirus pandemic shut down all local Memorial Day events, and this year, the pandemic and Main Street construction are preventing the parade, according to Legion Commander Stuart Spotts and Legion Board of Directors President and Historian Bill Morris.

In non-pandemic years, the annual Memorial Day parade would include local veterans marching with members of the Lake Placid Volunteer Fire Department, Lake Placid High School marching band, Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts.

The usual flag ceremonies will be held this year, with flags lowered and raised for local deceased veterans at four locations around Lake Placid.

Flags will be lowered and raised as follows: 9:30 a.m., Adirondack Community Church, lowered for Richard “Dick” Smart and raised for Cyril Levitt; 9:50 a.m., Elderwood of Uihlein at Lake Placid, lowered for Harry Jacobs and raised for Lawrence Maxwell; and 10:10 a.m., Lake Placid Health and Medical Fitness Center, lowered for Henry “Hank” Cooney and raised for William “Bill” McCalvin.

People will gather outside the Legion building at 11 a.m. for a flag ceremony. Flags will be lowered for Ken Hare, Ray Levitt and Guy Wescott and raised for John “Jack” Kendrick, Neil Pratt and Norris Earl “Bucky” Seney.

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Keene

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After taking a year off due to the pandemic, the Memorial Day ceremony in the town of Keene returns on Monday, beginning at 10 a.m. at the veterans memorial site on Norton Cemetery Road, according to American Legion Marcy Post 1312 Commander Tom Both. There will be an honor guard, firing squad, patriotic music and the playing of “Echo Taps.” Names of all the Keene residents who served since the Revolutionary War will be read during the ceremony.

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Carry the Load

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For the second year in a row, the local Carry the Load Memorial Day walk around Mirror Lake will be canceled, according to organizer Stuart Hemsley, of Lake Placid. Carry the Load is a nonprofit organization providing an active way to connect Americans to the sacrifices made by military, veterans, first responders and their families.

“This past year has been extremely hard for everyone staying safe and waiting for normal life to return,” Hemsley said in a statement. “We go into this national holiday with real signs of the pandemic loosening its grip in the USA, new guidelines and immunizations providing the confidence for friends and family to gather. The Carry The Load rally is planned on being open to anyone and will remain that way, without charge or a ticket, so all things considered bringing an unknown group together on Sunday in Lake Placid isn’t the best idea.”

The local rally was launched seven years ago, and Hemsley said he hopes to hold one again in Lake Placid next year. Rallies will be held in other communities around the nation this weekend. For more information, or to make donations, visit online at www.carrytheload.org.