Memorial Day events planned over weekend throughout region

The first holiday of the summer will be marked with a three-day weekend for most, and a variety of Memorial Day events throughout the area.

While Memorial Day marks the unofficial beginning of summer, it's also a day to honor the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military.

Several events are being held throughout the region this weekend and Memorial Day on Monday.

Cape Girardeau

Dressed as a Civil War soldier, Andrew Porter, 13, of Marble Hill, Missouri, places a hand over the side of his head as a cannon fires during a Memorial Day at Fort D Historic Site event May 27, 2019, in Cape Girardeau.Southeast Missourian file

• Avenue of Flags — Beginning at 7 a.m. Saturday at Cape County Park North, volunteers will install hundreds of American flags, each one honoring a Cape Girardeau County veterans who has died. Chairman David Cantrell said 30 new flags will be added this year, with five news ones coming from one family, four from another family and three representing veterans from another family.
• Memorial Day Weekend at Fort D Historic Site — Local re-enactors will honor veterans past and present at Fort D Historic Site at 920 Fort St. Re-enactments including cannon fire and rifle demonstrations from the Civil War will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The event is free and open to the public, and the renovated stone building known as the Blockhouse will also be open for visitors. Constructed during the beginning of the Civil War in the summer of 1861, Fort D is the only remaining of four Civil War forts that once protected the City of Cape Girardeau from Confederate attack.
• Carry the Load's sixth annual March to the River — The annual March to the River will be held Saturday to honor the sacrifices of military, firefighters, police and first-responders. Participants are asked to meet from 8 to 9 a.m. Saturday at the pavilion in downtown Cape Girardeau for registration, coffee and doughnuts. Shuttle rides will be available to take people to Cape County Park North. The walk will begin at 9:30 a.m. and will conclude back downtown with a celebration of life, including food, drinks and live entertainment.
• Memorial Day Service at the Osage Centre — The traditional Memorial Day observances will not be conducted this year at the Osage Centre because of the ongoing concerns with COVID-19. Instead, members of the Joint Veterans Council are partnering with the Parks and Recreation Department to decorate local veterans graves with flags Monday and promote all other outside events.

Bloomfield, Missouri

The Missouri Veterans Cemetery will host a columbarium wall dedication at 1 p.m. Monday. State Rep. Wayne Wallingford and Missouri Veterans Commission executive director Paul Kirchhoff will attend the ceremony. The dedication ceremony will include a "firing volley and patriotic reflection." It was scheduled to coincide with Memorial Day to honor all those who lost lives in service to the country.

Willie Lee Briscoe McGuire photographs his brother's name on the Missouri's National Veterans Memorial during Memorial Day on May 25, 2020, in Perryville, Missouri.Southeast Missourian file

Perryville, Missouri

Missouri's National Veterans Memorial, 1172 Veterans Memorial Parkway in Perryville, will hold a Memorial Day ceremony from 2 to 2:45 p.m. Monday. Milton Wick, who served in the Marine Corps for 10 years and is now the Perry County Middle School principal, will be the guest speaker of the event. Jackie Smith will sing the national anthem and the Rev. Bruce Owens will give the invocation. The Missouri's National Veterans Memorial Honor Guard will perform, as well as Logan Johnson playing taps.

Mound City, Illinois

The Mound City National Cemetery Preservation Commission will hold it's annual Memorial Day gathering at 10 a.m. Saturday at Veterans Park. This year's speaker will be "Gen. Ulysses S. Grant," commander of the Federal Forces at Cairo, circa 1861. Portraying the Union general will be Curt Fields, a nationally recognized Grant historian from Memphis, Tennessee. The public is invited to an old-fashioned Preservation Picnic, held on the Mound City National Cemetery Preservation Commission historic Rawlings Reservation home at 315 S. Fourth St. after the program.

Photographer and reporter Sarah Yenesel contributed to this story.