The Mapleton Lions Club hosted the 2024 Mapleton Memorial Day Parade and remembrance ceremony.
The creator of the parade and remembrance ceremony was the late Lion Calvin Woods.
Wood reminded everyone that the soldiers marched and fought in the rain, and so this parade will march in the rain as well. The Club began the annual parade approximately 30 years ago and has held one every year, rain or shine, missing only the pandemic year.
The Aroostook County Sheriff’s Office led the parade, as they have for many years, and the Mapleton-Chapman-Castle Hill Fire Department was well represented with their firefighters marching ahead of the vehicle fleet. Several pageant royalty participated, and there were antique cars, horses and riders, political candidates and the Mapleton Daze Committee.
The remembrance ceremony was held at Mapleton Elementary School. The Lions raised funds to create the permanent granite monument at the school, which lists all the names of local residents from the Castle Hill, Chapman and Mapleton who served in the military during wartime. The monument replaced the small glass case that had a partial list of those who served from Mapleton.
Speaking at the ceremony was Staff Sargent Audriana Willey, who serves in the Maine National Guard. She resides in Mapleton with her husband and two children. Retired Rev. Ken Phelps, longtime pastor of the Mapleton United Baptist Church, offered prayers.
Carrlyn Buck, Teen Miss Mapleton, sang the Star-Spangled Banner as Lions Steve Hanning, Memorial Day program chair, president Rick Fowler, Tim Graham and Dennis Turner raised the American and Maine flags.
The fire department laid memorial wreaths, and the ceremony closed with the playing of taps by Presque Isle Middle School students Jacob Cote and Grayson Blackstone. Their playing of “Taps” coincided with the 3 p.m. playing of “Taps Across America.”
Car wash for DAV
On Sunday before Memorial Day, Kyler Sprague and Trevor Miranda held a free car wash at which they accepted donations for the Smart-Ricker Disabled Veterans of Presque Isle. The and their wives, Kim Sprague and Kylie Miranda, washed cars and trucks through the day. Kylie also made sandwiches for drivers and passengers, for which additional donations were collected.
Sprague and Miranda said they wanted to help those who served in the military and came home with a variety of health care needs.
Sprague served in the U.S. Air Force and decided last year to move his business, Richards Masonry and Carpentry, to Castle Hill. He talked his friend and colleague Miranda into joining the trip. Both moved their families and have found steady work in the Central Aroostook area.
Mapleton Daze is coming
The Mapleton Daze Committee is preparing for the 35th anniversary of the event, which started as a one-day happening but has grown into a week of activities for the tri-community area.
Businesses, organizations, clubs and other individuals are invited to join in the annual Mapleton Daze Parade, to be held on Saturday, June 29. Lineup will start at 9 a.m. at the corner of Dudley Road and Main Street and the parade will start at 10.
Trophies will be awarded for Best Antique Vehicle, Best Business, Best Nonprofit, Best Queen Float, Best Tractor and Best Overall Entry.
For information, reach out to Mapleton Daze Committee President Lynnelle Foster at 207-227-5896, or message her through the Mapleton Daze Facebook page.
Terry Sandusky is the Star-Herald correspondent for Mapleton, Chapman and Castle Hill and can be reached at 764-4916 or at starherald.Tsandusky@gmail.com.
