After two years, Voorheesville Memorial Day Parade is back
Enterprise file photo — Michael Koff
Voorheesville veterans Russ Hoyer, left, and Wendall Thayer walk with other dignitaries near the front of the village’s 2017 Memorial Day parade; the parade is back this year after a two-year hiatus due to coronavirus.
VOORHEESVILLE — After being canceled for the past two years because of the coronavirus, the Voorheesville Memorial Day Parade is set to take place on Saturday, May 28.
“We’re really excited about having it,” said Wendall Thayer, post commander of the Voorheesville American Legion Post 1493. “And a lot of people have been very excited that we’re going to have it.”
The Legion has increased its beverage and hot dog purchase over years’ past, Thayer said, “because we haven’t had it for two years now. People need to get out [and] want to do something.
The theme of this year’s parade is the Air Force, 75 years of service, said Thayer, a Navy veteran himself.
This year’s grand marshal is village resident Paul Jeffers, 81, who served in the Coast Guard from 1962 to 1969, Thayer said.
Jeffers, a member of the Legion for 35 years, was the owner of Jeffers Nursery, which is now Robinson Hardware in Slingerlands. He then worked as a code-enforcement officer and building inspector for the town of New Scotland for 13 years, Thayer said.
Anyone who wants to participate in the parade can call the Legion at 518-765-4712, but their participation has to be oriented toward the Air Force, Thayer said; it can’t just be a purely commercial enterprise.
