Big things expected for veterans parade in Saugus

SAUGUS – This year’s North Shore Veterans Appreciation Parade, which will be held to coincide with Founders Day weekend and the town’s bicentennial celebration, is expected to be the largest parade to ever march through the North Shore.The parade will be on Sept. 13 at 1 p.m. The route spans more than 1.7 miles and begins and ends at Saugus High School on Pearce Memorial Drive.”It will be the largest parade in North Shore history,” said chairman of the parade committee, Joseph “Dennis” Gould.There will be “23 bands scattered throughout the parade, military vehicles and more than 2,500 marchers.”The route will follow down Pearce Memorial Drive, right onto Main Street, right onto Central Street, right on Denver Street, onto Talbot Street and end in the back of the high school on Highland Avenue.”We won’t know for sure until that day, but we’re expecting at least 10,000 people to come,” said Gould. “We’re hoping we can fill the streets all the way along the parade route with viewers.”Gould suggests parking on Denver Street at Belmonte Middle School; Talbot Street at Waybright School; for Main Street park on the nearby side streets, Blessed Sacrament Church, Summer Street, Taylor Street; and for Central Street, park on Winter Street, Hamilton Street or inside Riverside Cemetery.Marching bands include those from UMass Lowell, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Immaculate Heart of Mary High School, Reading High School, Case High School, Medford High School, Lynn Public School Band, Saugus High School, Melrose High School, Boston Windjammers, Providence Brass, Lowell High School and Salem High School.Campbell Highlanders, North Shore Pipe Band, Lincoln Minute Men, William Diamond Jr. and Sudbury Ancient will also perform.There will also be a live band in front of Saugus Town Hall from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. before the parade begins.”We will be selling T-shirts and coins on Sunday before the parade,” Gould said. “We may also bring some military vehicles for people to see them.”Some of the military vehicles that will be in the parade include “a sherman tank, hellcat, duck boat, multiple jeeps, a scout car and an ambulance,” Gould said.”The parade will also have a Nation Lancers Mounted Unit,” he said.Veterans and active-duty service members will march in the parade, and two Salem trolleys will be provided for those who wish to participate but cannot walk the 1.7 miles.”I have trolleys set up for the veterans who can’t march,” he said. “They will help around 60-70 veterans who can’t march.”We have veterans from World War II to now,” he said. “The World War II guys and women will be in the trolley. Vietnam and up, most of them will be marching.”Military branches and organizations marching include the U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Air Force and the U.S. National Guard.Veterans participating will be from World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, Desert Storm, Desert Shield and Afghanistan, he said.The parade committee has been preparing and fundraising for the event for more than a year and a half, he said.”We will probably end up raising around $70,000 for the parade,” he said.The committee held a comedy night at Giggles on Route 1, a dance at the Saugus Elks, a dance at the Veterans of Foreign Wars and have been selling T-shirts and coins. They will also sell them at a booth on Founders Day, the day before the parade, at Saugus Center.The parade is held semi-annually and this will be the third time the North Shore has had it. It began in Swampscott and then was held in Lynn two years later. This is the first time it will be held in Saugus.”It’s going to be a great event. It’s going to be quite a parade,” Gould said. “It will keep the kids engaged, and a lot of people will like it. It’s something that they’ll remember for a long time.”