Mayor Marcia Leclerc’s Statement on the East Hartford Patriotic Commission’s Cancellation of the East Hartford Memorial Day Parade

It has recently come to my attention that the East Hartford Patriotic Committee has cancelled the East Hartford Memorial Day Parade this year. While my office has not yet been formally informed by the Chair of the Commission, I have heard from several individuals that they have received notification from the Commission stating that the commission has cancelled the parade due to “economic reasons.”

Organizing the Memorial Day Parade is and always has been the responsibility of the Town’s Patriotic Commission, and as I have yet to hear officially from them, I cannot confirm the reasons behind the cancellation. I can share that Commission members have previously communicated with my office about the lack of volunteer labor and they have struggled in recent years to undertake the significant effort necessary to organize and host this event with the challenges of weather related cancellations, a significant decline in parade attendance and the lack of public participation.

I have heard from a community member that the Patriotic Commission is working to come up with an alternate event that will be more manageable for the Commission yet honors the intent of Memorial Day and our Veterans; however correspondence from my office to the Commission Chairperson has not been answered. As I have yet to hear directly from the Commission about their intentions with regards to the parade, I cannot confirm this or share details of what this alternate event might look like.

My office will share more information once we have heard from the Chair of the East Hartford Patriotic Commission.