After nearly three straight days of rain, nobody was sure what the morning would bring. What it brought was people — lining Sound Beach Avenue with flags and folding chairs, kids in rain boots, families crowded onto front porches, and a community that had clearly decided the weather wasn’t going to stop them from participating in the Old Greenwich Memorial Day Parade.
The Sound Beach Community Band was there, as they have been for much of this parade’s history. Founded in 1955 as a Fire Department Band, the group now operates as a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit under the direction of Zachary Kampler, performing a repertoire that moves between classical works, Broadway, contemporary wind band music, and the patriotic standards that suit a morning like this one.
The procession stepped off from the intersection of Shore Acre Drive and Sound Beach Avenue, marching the length of the avenue before ending at Binney Park, where a ceremony followed.
The groups that turned out covered the range you’d expect from a community this size. Youth sports teams, high school athletes, civic organizations, veterans’ groups. Greenwich Police motorcycle officers on wet pavement. A color guard in dress uniform carrying the American flag, the Connecticut state flag, and the POW/MIA flag. Decorated cargo bikes with kids and one very patient golden retriever in a stars-and-stripes bandana.
Scroll down to continue reading PLUS see a gallery of photos taken during our visit to the event…
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Off the route, a lemonade stand run by four girls was doing steady business. The Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New England Properties office had its whole team out front with red-white-and-blue beach balls. Someone handing out small American flags stopped to offer one to a boy who accepted it with a serious look on his face.
Binney Park, where the parade ends, is worth staying for. The ceremony that follows is quieter than the march, more deliberate. The band performs again, and the day shifts from festive to something closer to what Memorial Day is actually about.
Photos by Marianne D. Koushouris, photographer and Founder/Principal Designer for MDK Interiors. Follow her on Instagram at @mdkinteriors.
Writing by Content Director / Editor in Chief, Eric J. Taubert (New England Innkeeper + Taubert Gallery). Find him on Facebook at @taubertgallery. X at @erictaubert. Instagram at @taubertgallery.
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