LEWISTON — Following a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the L&A Veterans Council will hold a Memorial Day parade Saturday prior to the annual ceremony to honor U.S. military personnel who have died while serving in the armed forces.

A wreath for the Royal Canadian Legion will be placed Saturday at Veterans Memorial Park in Lewiston to remember the more than 100 Canadian veterans who are buried in and around Lewiston. Submitted photo

The parade route starts Saturday at 9:30 a.m. at Simones’ Hot Dog Stand on Chestnut Street. It will proceed down Lisbon Street, turn left on Main Street, cross the Longley Bridge into Auburn and return across the bridge to Veterans Memorial Park on Main Street in Lewiston.

Veterans’ groups and other organizations are expected to participate in the parade.

The ceremony at Veterans Memorial Park will begin after the parade. The featured speaker will be U.S. Sen. Angus King, according to Jerry Dewitt, chairman of the L&Auburn Veterans Council.

Two new memorial benches will be dedicated: one for the Obie family and the other for the Daughters of the American Revolution. There are 33 memorial stones with more than 200 names each in the park, but a 34th stone will not be ready until Veterans Day in November at the earliest, Dewitt said.

Capt. Kevin Michaud, a retired U.S. Air Force veteran, will place a wreath on behalf of the Royal Canadian Legion. The wreath will serve to remember the more than 100 Canadian veterans who are buried in and around Lewiston.

According to Dewitt, a special surprise display from a local business will be shown during the Memorial Day weekend.

The city of Auburn will dedicate two new monuments dedicated to veterans at Mt. Auburn Cemetery on Friday beginning at 10 a.m. The new stones will recognize veterans spanning from the invasion of Grenada through the Global War on Terror. The cemetery also has a memorial erected in 1946 by the Lions Club of Auburn, which has been updated to honor Auburn veterans through the Vietnam War.