Parade canceled for 2nd straight year
Short ceremony for Memorial Day being planned
Due to uncertainty surrounding the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, organizers have canceled the Memorial Day parade in Mohnton, officials announced Thursday, March 25.
The Mohnton Memorial Day Parade Committee recently made the decision to cancel the parade for the second straight year.
The decision to cancel the Mohnton parade comes two weeks after organizers announced the cancellation of the Berks County Armed Forces Day parade in Wyomissing and West Reading.
Larry Graeff, treasurer, said the decision to cancel the Mohnton parade was made reluctantly.
Graeff said the unpredictability of the course of the virus made it difficult to plan an event where decisions have to be made two months in advance. Berks is among 25 counties where risk of spreading the virus is substantial, according to the state.
“We hope we’ve done the right thing,” he said.
The Mohnton parade has been held since the 1950s, Graeff said, and for the last several years has featured the Reading Buccaneers Drum and Bugle Corps. Gov. Mifflin High School Band and the Pretzel City Dixieland Jazz Band were also regular participants.
The committee is working on plans to hold a short ceremony at Mohnton VFW Post 9045, Graeff said, and the traditional memorial ceremony at Mohnsville Cemetery on Memorial Day.