?Doylestown Ready For Another Memorable Memorial Day Parade

DOYLESTOWN, PA ? This year?s parade on Monday, May 27 is shaping up to be memorable with the majestic, iconic, and beloved Budweiser Clydesdales joining the march.

And the best news yet is that the team will be available for pictures following the parade at Broad Commons Park.

?Once they finish the parade route, the Budweiser team will be hitching the horses at Borough Hall (10 Doyle Street). We anticipate that they will arrive around 11 a.m. and will stay for about an hour,? the borough posted on Facebook.

Also joining this year?s parade will be Doylestown area veterans, government officials, marching bands, local groups and organizations, first responders, military vehicles, floats, musicians, and lots more.

When it comes to town traditions few can match the longevity or the importance of the Doylestown Memorial Day Parade.

Reaching back over a century and a half the parade was first held in 1868, the year Decoration Day, later called Memorial Day, was first observed in the United States and just 30 years after Doylestown's incorporation as a borough

It is among the oldest Memorial Day parades in the nation, according to the Borough of Doylestown, which today organizes the patriotic march through town in honor of those American veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of the nation and its democratic ideals.

It's amazing when you think about it. The first parade in town, which consisted of a group of citizens parading from the monument to the cemetery to decorate the graves of the nation's fallen soldiers, took place when Andrew Johnson was President of the United States and horses were the main source of transportation.

Through the years, that small observance has grown into today's Memorial Day Parade involving 1,700 participants, more than 100 separate units, eight school bands and an estimated 15,000 spectators who watch the parade from windows, front yards, sidewalks and curbs.

The parade is scheduled to step off from West Court Street at Lafayette Street (Central Bucks High School West) and march down Clinton Street bearing onto State Street going in the opposite direction of posted travel. The parade will then turn left onto North Main Street, travel to East Court Street at the Monument, where it will turn right onto East Court Street and end after East Street at the Doylestown Cemetery where a 12 p.m. wreath-laying ceremony will be held.

To allow free movement of the participants, parking will be prohibited on both sides of the entire route of the parade beginning at 5 a.m. on May 27. If your vehicle is parked on the street after 5 a.m. it will be towed at the owner's expense.

Free parking will be available at the county garage at Broad, Doyle, and Union streets.