Memorial Day ceremonies in the Hudson Valley returned this year after the pandemic forced the events to be canceled in 2020.

Dozens of parades happened throughout the region including in Haverstraw, New Rochelle, Yorktown Heights, Piermont, Pearl River and Suffern.

The village of Hillburn's parade stepped off early Monday, followed by a wreath-laying ceremony and gun salute.

Residents lined the streets with bands playing. The event looked a lot different this year compared to last year's small events, when only 10 people were allowed, because of New York’s coronavirus restrictions.

Suffern Mayor Edward Markunas was at his village’s event “to honor that sacrifice that they had made for us to live in this freedom and democracy that we have here in the United States.”


Other veterans in attendance, like Michael Curley, are glad that the declining coronavirus cases are allowing residents to be together to deliver an important message.


“It’s good that they care that they recognize the people that sacrificed for all of us,” Curley says. “For yesterday, for today and the future.”