Baldwinsville will hold its annual Memorial Day parade on Saturday, May 30, 2026, at 9:00 a.m., preceded by an 8:45 a.m. ceremony in front of the US Post Office and followed by a full memorial service at Riverview Cemetery on Tappan Street, the village confirmed in an April 7 notice posted to baldwinsville.gov. The village is observing the holiday on May 30 rather than the federal Monday observance, locking the parade to the original date Congress set in 1868 and used through 1970 before the Uniform Monday Holiday Act moved the observance. The Riverview Cemetery service draws marchers from American Legion Post 113 at 8529 Smokey Hollow Road and VFW Post 153, with full military honors at a cemetery that has held over 12,000 interments since 1807.
The 2026 parade is organized by the Baldwinsville Memorial Day Committee, which has run the ceremony in something close to its current form for decades. The committee’s contact address is [email protected], named for the May 30 date the village preserves. Unit registration runs through that email and through a QR code on the village’s downloadable flyer. The parade route follows the village’s standard procession from the staging area near the post office down to Riverview Cemetery at 70 Tappan Street, a route that crosses the Seneca River and traces some of the oldest civic ground in Onondaga County.
The ceremony’s anchor is Riverview Cemetery itself. John McHarrie, an early settler along the Seneca River, was buried on his own property in 1807. His wife Lydia was buried beside him 11 years later, in 1818. The cemetery grew outward from those two graves and now sits on the bank of the Seneca River with a large Civil War memorial that has anchored Baldwinsville’s Memorial Day service for generations. Cemetery records held by the Riverview Cemetery Association track more than 12,000 burials since the McHarrie interments, including Civil War veterans whose graves are decorated in the days leading up to the parade.
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Baldwinsville’s choice to anchor the parade to May 30 instead of the Monday Memorial Day observance is itself a piece of local civic identity. From 1868, when Decoration Day was first proclaimed by General John A. Logan, commander in chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, the date was fixed at May 30. Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act in 1968, with an effective date of 1971, which moved Memorial Day to the last Monday of May to create reliable three-day weekends. Baldwinsville’s committee returned to the original date in part to preserve the ceremonial pace, with the morning ceremony, parade, and graveside service compressed into the historical anchor day.
The parade itself is run by the Baldwinsville Memorial Day Committee, with unit participation coming from American Legion Post 113, VFW Post 153, the Charles W. Baker High School marching band, area scouting troops, fire companies, and civic groups including the Baldwinsville Volunteer Center. American Legion Post 113 is incorporated in New York with a clubhouse on Smokey Hollow Road and a public events calendar at post113events.com. The post is the operational hub for the morning’s color guard and rifle detail and runs the same Monday breakfast and pancake fundraisers many CNY posts use to fund their year-round flag retirement and veteran assistance programs.
The village’s published schedule places the chronological sequence in three stages. The 8:45 a.m. opening ceremony in front of the US Post Office serves as the muster point, where the color guard forms and the invocation is delivered. The 9:00 a.m. parade step off proceeds through the village toward Riverview Cemetery. The ceremony at Riverview itself includes the laying of wreaths at the Civil War memorial, a rifle volley by the Legion or VFW honor guard, and the playing of Taps. The full service runs approximately one hour after the parade arrives.
Riverview Cemetery’s role in the day is anchored by the cemetery’s own history. The 70 Tappan Street address sits on the south bank of the Seneca River. The Riverview Cemetery Association, which manages the grounds, traces continuous operation to McHarrie’s 1807 burial, making it one of the oldest continuously operated burying grounds in Onondaga County. The cemetery’s Civil War section holds the graves of Baldwinsville men who served in the 122nd New York Volunteer Infantry, the 149th New York Infantry, and other regiments mustered from Onondaga County during the Civil War. Local research published through the Shacksboro Schoolhouse Museum identifies dozens of named veterans interred there.
For residents who want to participate as a marching unit, the registration process is run through the parade committee’s email address, [email protected]. The village’s flyer, posted online April 7, 2026, includes a QR code that links to the participation form. The form collects unit name, contact, vehicle and float specifications, and the number of marchers expected. The committee asks units to confirm their participation in advance so the parade order can be set before the morning of May 30.
Spectator information is straightforward. Viewing positions along the parade route fill in steadily from about 8:30 a.m. The best vantage points historically have been at the corners closest to the cemetery, where families with veterans buried at Riverview gather. The village asks viewers to stand back from the curb during the march of the color guard and during any volley fire at the cemetery. Parking near the post office and along the cemetery side of Tappan Street fills quickly, so the village’s standard recommendation is to walk in from the village center.
The cemetery service is the most formal portion of the morning. The American Legion Post 113 and VFW Post 153 honor guard typically performs a three-volley rifle salute at the Civil War memorial. The bugler plays Taps. Local clergy deliver the invocation and benediction. A handful of village officials read names of Baldwinsville residents lost in the past year who served in the United States Armed Forces, including those who died from service-connected illness. The reading historically takes place after the wreath laying and before the volley. The crowd stands quietly during the volley and during Taps.
Baldwinsville’s Memorial Day observance carries weight beyond the formal program because of the cemetery’s age and the village’s location on the Seneca River. The McHarrie burial in 1807 predates the Erie Canal by 18 years, predates the village’s incorporation, and predates the formation of Onondaga County’s modern boundaries. The Erie Canal opened in 1825 and runs through the village a short distance from the cemetery. The Seneca River, which the parade route crosses, was the early commercial corridor for the area and the reason McHarrie settled where he did. The 2025 Erie Canal Bicentennial Seneca Chief replica voyage passed through Baldwinsville in October 2025, providing a visible reminder of how old the village’s civic ground is.
For families planning to bring younger children, the parade is generally about an hour from staging to arrival at the cemetery, with the cemetery service running another 45 minutes to an hour. Total length is roughly two hours from the 8:45 a.m. ceremony start to the close of the service near 10:30 a.m. Strollers and folding chairs are common along the route. Restrooms are available at the post office before the parade and at the cemetery’s chapel during the service.
Inclement weather has rarely shifted the May 30 service in the past decade. The committee has historically held the parade and cemetery service in light rain, only cancelling for active thunderstorms or unsafe conditions. The National Weather Service Binghamton office posts forecasts for the Baldwinsville area at weather.gov/bgm, and the village’s Facebook page is the primary channel for any last-minute weather call. Spectators planning to attend should check both the day before and the morning of.
For veterans and active duty service members planning to attend in uniform, the village asks that all military protocol be observed during the playing of the National Anthem, the laying of wreaths, and the rifle volley. The committee historically gives a small reception at the American Legion Post 113 after the cemetery service. The post on Smokey Hollow Road is roughly a 10-minute drive from Riverview Cemetery and is open to attendees of the service.
What is verified for May 30, 2026: an 8:45 a.m. ceremony at the US Post Office, a 9:00 a.m. parade step off, a route to Riverview Cemetery at 70 Tappan Street, a full memorial service at the Civil War memorial, and unit participation by American Legion Post 113 and VFW Post 153. Registration for marching units runs through [email protected]. The Baldwinsville Memorial Day Committee published the schedule on baldwinsville.gov on April 7. The next major village event after the parade is the start of summer programming at Beaver Lake Nature Center at 8477 East Mud Lake Road, which runs over 400 annual programs through its naturalist staff and serves as a stopover for migratory Canada Geese during the spring and fall flyway.
Sources & Verification
- Village of Baldwinsville, official parade notice, “Baldwinsville Memorial Day Parade,” posted April 7, 2026, baldwinsville.gov/2026/04/07/baldwinsville-memorial-day-parade/
- Riverview Cemetery Association, Inc., historical records on McHarrie 1807 burial and 12,000+ interments, via Find a Grave Cemetery ID 2191566 and Shacksboro Schoolhouse Museum publication shacksboromuseum.com/riverview-cemetery.html
- American Legion Post 113, Baldwinsville, NY, post events calendar, post113events.com and post113.com (clubhouse address 8529 Smokey Hollow Road)
- VFW Post 153, Baldwinsville, NY, official Facebook page and Cause IQ nonprofit registry, organization ID 160950628
- U.S. Code, Uniform Monday Holiday Act (Pub. L. 90-363, enacted June 28, 1968, effective January 1, 1971) for the federal observance change
- National Weather Service Binghamton, weather.gov/bgm, for parade-day forecast reference
- Beaver Lake Nature Center, Onondaga County Parks, onondagacountyparks.com/parks/beaver-lake-nature-center/, address 8477 East Mud Lake Road, 400+ annual program count
By Matt Keenan, transportation and infrastructure reporter. Edited by Frank Mahoney. Published 2026-05-11. Photo of Baldwinsville Village Hall by Crazyale via Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain, 2008). Seneca Chief Bicentennial photo by DanielPenfield via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0, October 3, 2025).
