Perfect Hempstead Memorial Day parade on a perfect day

Hempstead’s Memorial Day Parade this past Sunday held both the solemnity of remembering those who died defending the United States of America, and the joy of seeing the community parade its best under a brilliant afternoon sun. 

The parade began outside the American Legion Post 390 headquarters at 160 Marvin Ave. One after another, participating groups from the community lined up, in uniformed finery, carrying decorative signs and shiny band instruments, while firefighting equipment rolled into place. Three mounted policemen trotted to the head of the line, and the parade began.

Just behind the mounted police in the procession, Mayor Waylyn Hobbs, Jr., marched with Deputy Mayor Jeffery Daniels and Trustees Clariona Griffiths, Kevin Boone, and Noah Burroughs. The five officials stopped for a moment of silence at the monument that stands regally at the entrance to Kennedy Memorial Park. 

Then they resumed their walk, greeting the clusters of families and seniors that lined both sides of Greenwich Street. 

Staunch groups that appear every year once again impressed the spectators: the reenactment group called Company H, “Willis Company,” 119th NY, who memorialize a Civil War regiment organized in 1862;  the Grand Army of the Republic, a Civil War fraternal organization; and the Wantagh Pipe Band, with haunting bagpipe renditions of traditional melodies. 

And of course, the magnificence of the Hempstead Fire Department, joined by two trucks from the Uniondale Fire Department, flags waving in the light breeze, drew enthusiastic applause. 

Post 390 Parade Grand Marshal Robert Jenkins oversaw the event. He served with the Army 2930 and P Company during peacetime, doing arms testing outside Las Vegas. 

The lively, active variety of organizations in Hempstead Village was wonderfully displayed in the other groups that strutted, danced, and marched down Greenwich Street: the sassy Academy Charter School band and dance troupe, dressed in sparkling gold; the Hempstead High School Marching Tigers, their band instruments gleaming against their blue and white uniforms; the Hempstead LIttle League, dashing in green caps; the spunky Youth and Teen Dance Company, in black clothes with purple lettering; the confident, upright students of the Self-Defense and Self-Esteem Class taught by Grand Master Aaron Allen; the U.S. Federal Chaplains, their red pick-up truck hauling a trailer filled with greenery and enthusiastic children waving U.S. flags, the white-shirted, blue-capped chaplains marching behind, followed by the Country Estates Civic Association; Rheinai Bailey, Majestic International Pageant Queen for the Junior Division; the strong-striding men of Doric Lodge #53. 

As the groups arrived at the mobile bandshell, they were announced by Hempstead Director of Human Relations/Community Relations Juanita Hargwood, and acknowledged by Mayor Hobbs and the village board. The dancers, musicians, and self-defense artists all delivered short performances, evoking loud applause from onlookers.