The Glens Falls/Queensbury Memorial Day parade has been cancelled, but the remembrance ceremony will go on in the Cool Insuring Arena. It will run about one hour, will include music, the keynote speakers, the reading of the Gettysburg Address, the essay-winning students from Queensbury and Glens Falls schools, and short speeches by Queensbury Supervisor John Strough and Glens Falls Mayor Dan Hall.
“You wouldn’t believe how disappointed I am, but we didn’t have an option,” Strough said in an interview today. He has been spearheading the event. At Queensbury Town meetings he has been vocal in his support and marketing of it.
The parade committee made the announcement via email this afternoon.
“We decided that it would not be logistically possible for us to meet those new state requirements,” the statement said.
“Basically, by the time you’re done [making the adjustments], don’t have a parade,” he said of the state's restrictions on gatherings. “Now I have to tell everybody, ‘Please don’t put the posters up,’” since they have the wrong information. The portion of the event at the Glens Falls YMCA is also cancelled.
The Cool Insuring Arena can accommodate the expected attendance, Strough said, adding that the stage is already available.
The Remembrance Ceremony will take place Memorial Day, Monday May 31, 11:30 in the Cool Insuring Arena, 1 Civic Center Plaza, Glens Falls.