Nantucket's Annual Memorial Day Parade Has Been Canceled

This year's Memorial Day parade has been canceled, according to Byron L. Sylvaro American Legion Post 82 commander Neville Richen.

"We didn't have the personnel. We didn't have the people," Richen told the Current. "A lot of our members, we've gotten old. I think it's finally just caught up with us this year, just for those basic things. You just don't have the people, like our color guards, things like that."

The traditional Memorial Day ceremony at the Prospect Hill Cemetery, however, will still be held at 1 p.m. on Sunday, May 24th.

The Legion plans to bring the parade back in the future.

“We do have a lot of younger vets here, and we’re going to try to get them more involved,” Richen added. “We really need some young blood.”

American Legion Post 82 chaplain Toby Brown emphasized that the cancellation had nothing to do with support from the town or other groups that have traditionally assisted with the parade. Brown said much of the online speculation on social media about the reasons for canceling the parade was inaccurate.

"So we wanted to just kind of clear the air you know? It has nothing to do with the town's support," Brown said. "The problem is, many of us veterans are all getting old, and we don't have a lot of people to help with logistics and stuff. The band that we usually have as well, they've evolved and many of them retired, so we were having trouble finding the band. It's a joint effort between the VFW and Legion. We both do it together. And both organizations, we've got a shortage of veterans to march.

"We will still will be doing the honor guard as usual at the cemetery like we always do, but we are kind of short-handed, even with the honor guard that we also have," Brown added. "So we're having trouble filling all those slots. And then we have a lot of veterans who need to ride in Jeeps, ride in transportation. And this year was really tough to, logistically, get everything going."