Event to conclude with ceremony in Chaplain J.D. Hamel Park
The annual Memorial Day parade in downtown Sarasota will be held on Monday, May 29, starting at 10 a.m. at the intersection of Main Street and Osprey Avenue, the city has announced.
The parade entries will travel west to lower Main Street, with the event ending at the Gulfstream Avenue intersection, a news release explains. At approximately 11 a.m., a ceremony will be held in Chaplain J.D. Hamel Park, which stands at 199 Bayfront Drive, the release adds.
The keynote speaker for this year’s ceremony will be retired Navy Capt. Richard Petrucci, the release notes. He was a naval aviator for 25 years, logging four squadron tours prior to his 1986 retirement, the release adds.
Following his military service, the release continues, Petrucci joined the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. in Marietta, Ga., as a senior engineer. He later moved to the Sarasota area and became the Sarasota Military Academy’s first Math and Science Department leader, the release says.
Petrucci has accrued more than 7,800 hours of flight time, the release points out. He also has been honored with the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award for 50 years of flying without an accident, the release says.
“The Memorial Day holiday honors those who died during military service, the release explains.
The City of Sarasota administrative offices will be closed on May 29 for observance of the national holiday, the release adds. Garbage/recycling/yard waste collections will proceed on the usual schedule that week, the release points out.