It shouldn’t be difficult to find something to do this Memorial Day weekend. From Niles to Dowagiac to Buchanan, there’s a lot going on.

Here is a roundup of some of our area’s Memorial Day weekend events:

 

Niles

 

The annual Memorial Day parade in Niles is scheduled to roll on at 10 a.m. Monday beginning at the Old YMCA building on state street and heading east on Main Street.

In addition, there will be Memorial Day services at Mission Hills Cemetery, M-51 North, at 11 a.m. Sunday. This service is sponsored by American Legion Post 26. The speaker will be Commander John Sly, from Niles Post 26.

A second service will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Veterans Memorial in Riverfront Park on Main Street. This service is also sponsored by American Legion Post 26. Commander Sly will also speak at this service.

Line up for the Memorial Day parade is at 9 a.m. with the parade beginning at 10 a.m. sharp.

Following the Parade there will be a service at Silverbrook Cemetery with a wreath being placed in the Veterans Circle by the cannon. Pastor Jeff Whittaker, Michiana Christian Embassy, will be giving opening prayer, and Dorothy McLaughlin, auxiliary chaplin, will be giving the closing prayer. Whittaker will be the speaker at this service.

The Niles High School Band will be providing patriotic music for the service.

For more information, or to join the parade, contact Sly at (269) 357-1411.

 

Buchanan

 

Buchanan’s Memorial Day parade begins at 10 a.m. Monday. The parade route starts at McCoy Duck Pond on Front Street and ends at the Cemetery on Terre Coupe.

 

Dowagiac

 

Dowagiac’s Memorial Day observance organized by the Masons starts at 10:30 a.m. Monday in front of City Hall, with the parade stepping off about 11.

Guest speaker will be Lt. Col. Decker B. Hains, who became a professor of military science at Western Michigan University last June 15.

LTC Hains was commissioned in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers upon graduation from the U.S. Military Academy in 1994.

Previous assignments include: platoon leader and executive officer, 23rd Engineer Company, Fort Richardson, Alaska; Battalion S4, Special Troops Battalion, Fort Richardson; Assistant Brigade S3, Engineer Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Camp Howze, Korea; Commander, C Company, 2nd Engineer Battalion, Camp Casey, Korea; Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y.; chief, Military Transition Team, Baghdad, Iraq; Deputy District Commander for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla District, October 2009-August 2011; and Design Engineer for the 555.

LTC Hains earned a bachelor of science degree with a civil engineering major in 1994 from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point; a master of science degree in arctic engineering from the University of Alaska-Anchorage in 1998; a master of science degree in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla in 1999; and a doctor of philosophy in civil engineering from Lehigh University in 2004.

 

Edwardsburg

 

The Memorial Day Parade Monday will step off at 11 a.m. and proceed along US-12 in the Village of Edwardsburg. There will be a short pause at the Edwardsburg Historical Museum for a flag ceremony before the parade continues to the cemetery for the placing of the flags.

Immediately following the parade, the Memorial Festival begins in Gunn Park. The festival will run from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The Presbyterian Church, located on Lake Street just off of US-12, will be holding a pancake breakfast Memorial Day from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Suggested donation is $5 per person and $3 for children 12 and under.

The sanctuary will also be open for anyone who would like to come in and light a candle for a loved one and complete a prayer card. The following Sunday the church will lift up their loved one in memory during the service.

For more information call the Presbyterian Church at 663-6815.

 

Cassopolis

The Cassopolis Veterans of Foreign Wars is putting on the annual Memorial Day Parade Monday.

VFW member Chris Bergen has once again taken on the task of organizing the event.

The Memorial Day Parade will step off at 10 a.m. from behind the VFW and will wind around down onto Broadway and lead up to Prospect Hill Cemetery where military honors, including taps and a gun salute, will be held.