Special events planned for Memorial Day
HARTINGTON — Memorial Day 2023 will be much more than just a one-day celebration in the Hartington area.
Area residents can attend many different events on Saturday and again on Monday this year to celebrate our veterans.
In preparation for the big event, volunteers will hang about 200 flags Thursday around the Cedar County Courthouse honoring area veterans. VFW Commander Dean McGregor said volunteers are asked to help place the flags at 1 p.m., Thursday.
A special grand opening for the new Hartington Veterans Memorial will be held Saturday at 2 p.m.
Memorial Day services will be held at all area cemeteries and the courthouse, complete with honor guard and a 21-gun salute. Names of all soldiers buried at each cemetery will be read aloud during the ceremonies.
The activities will begin Monday at the Paragon Cemetery at 7 a.m.
The next ceremony is at Fordyce Cemetery at 9 a.m.
The memorial at the courthouse will be held at 10 a.m. The Hartington City Cemetery service begins at 10:45 a.m.
Services will then be held at St. Michael’s Cemetery at 11:30 a.m.
Wynot American Legion Post 31 will have ceremonies at Menominee at 8:30 a.m., and at the St. Helena Chapel at 9 a.m. The group will then move to the St. Helena Public Cemetery at 9:25 a.m., and the Bow Valley Cemetery at 10 a.m.
Activities resume at the Wynot Public Cemetery at 10:30 a.m., and at Scared Heart Cemetery in Wynot at 10:45 a.m.
The final two ceremonies of the day are at St. James, 11 a.m., and Obert, 11:30 a.m.
The Ladies Auxiliary will host a luncheon at the Sacred Heart Parish Hall, Wynot, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Coleridge will also be celebrating Memorial Day as well with many different activities.
The Avenue of Flags will be put up at 5:30 p.m., Thursday, May 26. The crosses and smaller flags will be put on the veterans’ graves at that time.
The Coleridge Community Club will sponsor a pancake feed on Sunday, May 29.
The traditional ceremony will take place at 11 a.m., Monday, May 30, at the Memorial Plaza followed by lunch at the Coleridge Community Building.