Manlius prepares for its Memorial Day parade

VILLAGE OF MANLIUS, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — It’s a village transformed with patriotic cheer every Memorial Day.

“It’s all just planning to make sure everybody’s on board, how many bands we have, we get the high school, and middle school bands in, and just making sure everybody’s set up and ready to go, what time they’re coming, where they’re staging and all that,” Manlius Mayor Paul Whorrall said.

While the parade may be a lot of fun for those who go, that’s not what it is about. The parade is about taking the opportunity to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

“It’s important to them. If you watch them, for them, it’s a big deal. I mean their precision is what it’s all about for them, and so we want to make sure that we’re as precise as they are,” Mayor Whorrall said. “This is honoring them, and this is what they’re doing, and they know it’s important to them, and so, it’s their day not ours.”

A day for which planning begins on the first of the year, and, as far as Mayor Whorrall who marched in the Manlius Parade when he played Little Leagu can recall, it’s never been canceled.

“We have delayed it once because of thunder and lightning, so we’re all set up ready to march and storm came through, so everybody took shelter. We let it pass and then we had the parade, so I don’t know what this weekend’s or what tomorrow’s going to bring,” Mayor Whorrall added.

Rain or shine, those who are gone will be remembered in Manlius.

The parade begins on Monday, May 27, at 11 a.m. at the intersection of Route 173 and 92.

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