NUTLEY, NJ — Mayor Mauro Tucci, Commissioner Joseph P. Scarpelli and the Nutley Board of Commissioners have announced plans for the township’s 101st Memorial Day Parade, to be held Monday, May 30. Weather permitting, the Nutley War Memorials Remembrance Ceremony will start at 7:30 a.m. at the VFW Post 493, 271 Washington Ave. Following the ceremony, the township will gather to honor Nutley’s fallen firefighters at the Nutley Public Safety Building, 228 Chestnut St., at 10:30 a.m. The parade opening ceremonies and welcome will begin at 11 a.m. at the Park Oval on Franklin Avenue.
The parade route is the same as previous years: Chestnut Street to Passaic Avenue to Centre Street to Franklin Avenue, with the reviewing stage in front of John H. Walker Middle School. The Rev. Jill Fenske will offer the prayer at the opening ceremonies and this year’s grand marshal is Maria Hamlin.
“The Memorial Day Parade serves as a tribute to honor all of our U.S. servicemen and -women who selflessly and valiantly gave their lives to protect our freedom and liberty,” Tucci said.
The weekend activities begin on Sunday, May 29, when the Nutley Historical Society will sponsor “A Walk in the Park,” a tour led by Nutley Museum director John Simko. The tour begins at 9 a.m. in Memorial Park at the Mud Hole, near the intersection of Passaic and Vreeland avenues, and travels along the Third River. Simko will discuss the river’s role in Nutley’s history as a source for early industry, inspiration for world-renowned artists, a symbol of civic pride, an important boundary marker and a fitting memorial to war veterans.
Visit the sites of three former mills and the pre–Revolutionary War Van Giesen homestead, find out why the Third River is split in two, learn about the beginnings of the 100-year-old Carnegie Library and even older Town Hall, and walk through one of Nutley’s oldest cemeteries. “A Walk in the Park” ends at 10:30 a.m. inside Nutley’s first brick schoolhouse, now the Nutley Historical Society and Museum. The museum will be open to the public, and tour-related items from the archives will be on display. Community members are invited to the Nutley Museum, 65 Church Street, at 10:30 a.m., even if they do not take the tour.
“A Walk in the Park” is free but is limited to 15 people and requires registration by emailing johnsimko1014@gmail.com or by calling 973-752-8984. The tour’s rain date is Monday, May 30, at 9 a.m.
For Memorial Day, the Board of Commissioners will be inviting family members of soldiers, both past and present, to march in the parade, and is collecting names of those in the Nutley community who are currently serving. These names will be added to an already existing banner, which will be carried throughout the parade and then displayed on the Park Oval fence outside of the Town Hall.
“Memorial Day is a day we put aside to honor our fallen heroes and pray that no heroes will ever again have to make the ultimate sacrifice protecting our nation,” Scarpelli said.
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