Batavia VFW drops Loyalty Day parade
Batavia's Loyalty Day parade in May is being replaced with a picnic.
"The parade has been a Batavia tradition for over 40 years. However, due to the tremendous workload and stress, it is with sadness I inform you that our organization has made the decision not to organize a Loyalty Day Parade for 2017," Joshua Pfueffer, commander of Overseas Post 1197, Veterans of Foreign Wars, said in a news release.
The Batavia post will instead have a community picnic on its grounds at 645 S. River St. (Route 25), he said.
Dismayed residents immediately took to Facebook Wednesday to express their disappointment, and to ask if there was a way to preserve the tradition.
"WHAT?????? Woah woah where's the talk about this??? This is a Batavia staple. Part of what makes us an amazing small town," wrote one woman.
"Did they ever ask for volunteers or send out anything regarding needing help? I didn't see anything regarding that and I would have loved to help," wrote another.
Pfueffer could not be immediately be reached for comment.
The parade, which had been the first Sunday in May, went through downtown on West Wilson Street, but a few years ago it was moved east of the Fox River. It always ended at Post 1197.
Loyalty Day is officially May 1, on May Day. The holiday was first observed in 1921 as "Americanization Day." VFWs across the country asked Congress to make it an official holiday, which it did in July 1958. President Eisenhower proclaimed May 1, 1959 the first official observance of Loyalty Day.