Bayside Hills Civic Will Hold Memorial Day Celebration on May 25

The Bayside Hills Civic Association will hold its annual Memorial Day celebration at 9:30 a.m. on May 25.  

The event will take on Bell Boulevard at 51st Avenue, where northeast Queens residents will listen to poems and remarks from local religious leaders and elected officials.  

“Unfortunately, the traditional observation of Memorial Day has diminished over the years,” said Michael Feiner, president of the civic association. “Many Americans nowadays have forgotten the meaning and customs of this holiday. It is much more than a three-day weekend that marks the beginning of summer. To many people, especially the nation’s thousands of combat veterans, this day is an important reminder of those who died in the service of their country.”  

This year’s guests at the celebration will include state Assembly members David Weprin, Edward Braunstein and Nily Rozic, City Council members Dan Halloran and Mark Weprin, U.S. Rep. Grace Meng, state Sen. Tony Avella, local Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts troops and U.S. Army Chaplain John Mulhern, who will present the opening benediction.  

The ceremony will include the reading of Billy Rose’s poem “The Unknown Soldier” by 9-year-old Will Liao as well as a proclamation by the Mayor’s Community Affairs Queens Unit.  

Local theater star Rhea Arkin will sing “The National Anthem” and Monsignor Martin Geraghty, who is the pastor of Saint Robert Bellarmine Roman Catholic Church, will read the closing benediction.

Drop by Bayside Douglaston Patch tomorrow morning for a preview of the annual Little Neck Douglaston Memorial Day Parade, which is the largest of its type in the United States.