Due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, many traditional annual Memorial Day events across the Midcoast  region have been canceled for the second year in a row.

Among the communities where this year’s Memorial Day parades are canceled are Arrowsic, Bowdoin, Freeport, Harpswell, Phippsburg, Pownal and West Bath.

The Brunswick-Topsham Memorial Day Committee will broadcast a virtual event on local cable stations and on their website.

Woolwich’s Memorial Day Service will be held at North Woolwich Methodist Church at 7 p.m. on Monday. The keynote speaker is Sophia Inman, an Air Force veteran who also worked at Arlington National Cemetery. For those unable to attend, the service will be live-streamed on their website www.northwoolwichmc.org.

In Dresden, a Memorial Day ceremony will be held at Pownalborough Court House. The parade will proceed down flagpole to cemetery at 11 a.m., where Mason Lodge 103 will speak and lay wreaths at nine headstones.

“We are happy that slowly things are coming back to normal,” Dave Probert, co-chairperson of the Pownalborough Stewardship Committee, said. “It will be a gathering of approximately 70 people. The whole event is expected to last for 45 minutes.”

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Since it’s an outdoor event, it’s not mandatory for people to wear face masks, Probert added.

Meanwhile, the town of Lisbon will be hosting three ceremonies sponsored by American Legion Posts 66 and 158 starting at 8 a.m. The event will begin with a military salute at St. Anne’s Cemetery, followed by a ceremony at MTM Center at 10 a.m. The event will culminate by honoring the veterans lost at sea at Smith-McCarthy park at noon.

Richmond will also go ahead with its parade. The American Legion Post’s 132 honor guard will host a ceremony at Cotton Cemetery at 8 a.m., after which they will stop at other local cemeteries in Richmond, Dresden and Bowdoinham. Wreath laying and flag lowering ceremonies will take place at the Waterfront park at 11 a.m.

There are no formal public Memorial Day events planned in Freeport town this year.

“Unfortunately, we haven’t planned any events this year,” Johanna Hanselman, the general assistant administrator for Freeport, said. “The town will not be witnessing any Memorial Day ceremonies or parades that we hold every year. However, we plan on organizing a fireworks show for July 4.”

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