No Hewlett-Woodmere Memorial Day Parade

There will not be a Memorial Day Parade through the Hewlett and Woodmere communities this year, however civic leaders are hoping that they can get together and plan on having one next year.

Parades were held last year and in 2009, but over time the parades have gotten shorter and become on again, off again events, Woodmere Fire Department Chief Richard Jankosky said.

“The parade once began from the 4th Precinct (1699 Broadway in Hewlett) and would go to the Woodmere firehouse (20 Irving Place in Woodmere),” Jankosky said. “In recent years they were cut back to start by Hewlett High School. Some people didn’t want that and it began at the Hewlett firehouse. It got shorter and shorter every year.”

Both fire departments have been heavily involved in supporting a parade from marching to contributing the sound system to providing drinking water, Jankosky said.

Typically a committee comprised of community leaders were in charge of assembling the parade, according to Jankosky, who said that two or three members of the fire department would be on that committee, along with members from the Hewlett and Woodmere merchants associations.

But this year after trying to reach out to the Woodmere Merchants Association several times and not receiving any responses, Jankosky said that his department voted not to march in any parade. Instead, the Woodmere and Hewlett fire departments will hold a joint memorial service on Memorial Day, Monday, May 30 at Grant Park in Hewlett beginning at 10 a.m.

“The fire service is always there for the community and will always be there,” Jankosky said.

Joseph Gelb, president of the Hewlett Business Association and Dr. John Santopolo, president of the Woodmere Merchants Association, said they were trying to hold a parade, but there wasn’t enough time to organize everything.

“There is no doubt in my mind that both merchant groups and both fire departments would have liked to have a parade,” Gelb said. “Although it didn’t come to pass, John and I hope to resolve this and we look forward to having a parade next year.”

Santopolo, who became president of the Woodmere association last fall, has sought to revitalize his organization and wanted to have a parade. Instead, he expects to lay a wreath at the memorial that is located at the intersection of Broadway and Conklin Avenue in Woodmere on Memorial Day.

However, he said, that the door is open to getting a parade back on track. “The Woodmere Merchants Association will be happy to participate in any Memorial Day celebration that the community wants to put forward,” Santopolo said.

Memorial day parades will take place in Inwood on Sunday, May 29, beginning at 11 a.m. at the intersection of the Nassau Expressway and Bayview Avenue and ending at the V.F.W on Doughty Boulevard, where refreshments will be served. On Monday, May 30, Memorial Day, the Lawrence-Cedarhurst parade will start at 10:30 a.m. with a short service at the Veterans Memorial in Lawrence, then proceed on Central Avenue to the firehouse and then to the memorial plaza in Andrew J. Parise Cedarhurst Park for another brief service.