Memorial Day Service, Ceremony In Douglaston To Replace Parade

LITTLE NECK-DOUGLASTON, QUEENS — Hoards of people usually flock to Northern Boulevard on the last Monday in May to march in the Little Neck-Douglaston Memorial Day Parade, but for the second year in a row the event will go with an abbreviated schedule of events — sans parade.

At the beginning of April, parade organizers, who claim that the Memorial Day event is the largest in the nation, announced that they weren’t able to obtain a permit to conduct this year’s parade due to COVID restrictions, which also prohibited them from hosting the event in 2020.

Instead they’re focusing their efforts on an in-person interfaith service, which will also be streamed on Zoom, and a wreath laying ceremony — in addition to raising money for the 2022 parade, which they are “optimistic” will go on with the usual fanfare of the last 90-plus years, according to a letter posted on Facebook.

The service will begin at 10:00 a.m. on Monday at the Community Church of Little Neck, located at 46-16 Little Neck Parkway.

Afterwards, at around 11:30 a.m., the wreath laying ceremony will commence about half a mile away at the monuments in St. Anastasia's parking lot, located at 45-14 245th Street at the corner of Alameda Avenue and Northern Boulevard.

Although Tom Carty and Carolyn Karroff, the parade’s chair and secretary, respectively, wrote in the letter that they are “disappointed” that the parade won’t happen this year, they still are planning the service and ceremony “to honor those who have served” — and are already looking forward to next year’s full fledged Memorial Day event.

“Our ability to fundraise over the past year has been very limited. Therefore, we have decided to begin fundraising for the 2022 parade by selling tickets to our 300 Club Drawing” the pair wrote.

Each ticket costs $100, and can be purchased by filling out this form, and sending a check in the mail to the listed address.

More information about the parade can be found on the Little Neck-Douglaston Memorial Day Parade website here.