Whether it’s a new float or a longer parade route, each year
local volunteers find ways to make Gilroy’s Memorial Day Parade a
little bigger and better.
This year, organizers have arranged for a military band to
perform the day before the city’s 10th annual parade.
Gilroy — Whether it’s a new float or a longer parade route, each year local volunteers find ways to make Gilroy’s Memorial Day Parade a little bigger and better.
This year, organizers have arranged for a military band to perform the day before the city’s 10th annual parade.
The 561st Air National Guard Band of the West Coast, based in Sunnyvale, will perform Sunday, May 27 at the amphitheater in Christmas Hill Park, according to Craig Gartman, a city councilman who serves as parade president.
“We’re trying to make the event just a little bigger every year,” Gartman said, “and we’ve been trying to get a military band to perform for a while. We’re also looking at building some activities around the Sunday afternoon performance before Memorial Day.”
The military band will be the centerpiece of a day that could include a firefighter’s cook-off, fireworks and other family activities. An organizing committee plans to meet today to discuss options.
The Memorial Day parade, held the last Monday of each May, has become a major event in Gilroy in recent years. Thousands of people line 10th Street to watch local Boy Scouts, dance troupes, military veterans and dozens of other floats pass by. The parade traditionally starts in the Caltrain parking lot on Monterey Street and finishes by Gilroy High School, but last year organizers decided to extend the parade route to the gates of Christmas Hill Park.
Wayne Cegelske, an event organizer who serves as chaplain of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6309, said volunteers are trying to round up more Humvees, World War II-era Jeeps, and other military vehicles.
He had no problem with bringing the Air National Guard band down for an extra day of celebration and remembrance.
“The veterans here in town haven’t gotten enough recognition, and I think it’s an excellent idea,” Cegelske said.
Seventy-seven Gilroyans have lost their lives in combat since World War I. The most recent was Marine Lance Cpl. Jeramy Ailes, a Gilroy High School graduate who was killed in Nov. 2004 while fighting in Iraq.
As in past years, Ailes and other fallen Gilroy military personnel will be honored during a morning ceremony on Memorial Day at St. Mary Parish cemetery..
