Memorial Day parade returns in Mishawaka for the first time since 2019

MISHAWAKA — Joy Miller has fond memories of kids standing on sidewalks waving flags, high school marching bands playing and moving in step, and the Civil War era cannon shot that had rattled a few nearby windows at Battell Park during Memorial Day parades and associated activities.

Miller, auxiliary president of the American Legion Post 161, says much of what has made the holiday meaningful returns on Monday when the Memorial Day Parade resumes after a four-year hiatus.

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Miller, like parade organizer Dan Gann — the commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 360 — are responsible for rebuilding an event that was last staged in 2019. The coronavirus pandemic caused organizers to cancel the parade in 2020 and 2021. Last year, ongoing downtown construction projects blocked its route and forced another cancellation.

'Growing pains'

Gann said the groups have put in a lot of hard work, with Miller saying more than 60 entrants have applied to be in Monday's parade.

"We still have seen a lot of growing pains," Gann said. He added, however, that although there will be some traditional participants absent from this year's parade, he is confident that momentum is building for a robust return for this year's parade and those events in the future.

"This year's theme is 'Duty-Honor-Country,' the saying from West Point," Gann said.

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A large sewer project and right-of-way improvements that began at the end of March at Third and Main streets was to have been done by the end of the week to allow the parade organizers to use that area as a starting point.

Christine Jamrose, city engineer, said construction on the project that began in early 2022 was to have been done to the point where people could walk at the intersection.

Gann said most of the bands, floats and entries in the parade will stage to the west of Main Street, a departure from the usual of spots east of the Third-Main intersection.

Gann and Miller said the call for entries and volunteers has been a challenge because people and groups did not have the continuous annual parade event that kept people thinking about the celebration.

The parade's grand marshal

This year's grand marshal of the parade is World War II and Korean War veteran Raymond Gervais of Mishawaka. Gervais, 97, served in the Pacific campaign during World War II and has served on the burial detail made up of VFW and American Legion veterans who honor deceased veterans at local funerals.

In a South Bend Tribune column published in 2017 about those honor guards, Gervais said he had walked in parades in the past, but he decided to join the honor guard as a tribute to his fellow soldiers.

“I wasn’t able to go to the funerals or cemeteries at Leyte or Okinawa,” Gervais told The Tribune then. “I put a lot of guys ashore, and I don’t know if I they ever got off the island. This is my way of getting closure.”

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Matt Lentsch, executive director of development and government affairs, said the city has been looking forward for the resumption of the parade since Mayor Dave Wood announced its return in February.

"We are pleased to have it back, and it is exciting to us that it will bring back a sense of normalcy," Lentsch said. "It is always great to see the parade."

If you go

The Mishawaka Memorial Day Parade begins at 9:30 a.m. Monday from Main and Third streets and continues to Battell Park, 301 W. Mishawaka Ave.

Memorial ceremonies also will take place at 7 a.m. at Little St. Joseph Cemetery, 357 W. Jefferson Blvd.; 7:15 a.m. at Mishawaka City Cemetery, 1300 N. Main St.; and at 7:30 a.m. at Fairview Cemetery, 1415 N. Main St.

A tribute to sailors takes place at 8:45 a.m. at Beutter Park, 120 Ironworks Ave.

For more information, visit facebook.com/mishawakamemorialdayparade.

Email Tribune staff writer Greg Swiercz at gswiercz@sbtinfo.com.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: COVID then road construction canceled Mishawaka Memorial Day Parade