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Mercer Memorial Day 500 set to roll
By William K. ALCORN
MERCER, PA.
No, the Mercer Memorial Day 500 is not a car race.
The 500 represents the number of U.S. flags that line both sides of Pitt Street from the U.S. Post Office in downtown Mercer to Citizens Cemetery, the parade route for one of the area’s largest Memorial Day events.
“Please don’t call it a celebration. There is no candy throwing. It’s a solemn remembrance,” said Linda Brown, who with her husband, Mark, organize the event that last year attracted more than 5,000 people.
“We want people to enjoy themselves. But, we also want them to clap and give honor along the parade route and at the cemetery to veterans who have given so much,” she said.
One of the highlights of this year’s Mercer Memorial Day 500 is the dedication of the Mercer County Liberty Tree in Citizens Cemetery at noon May 31.
“The black gum tree, donated by Kraynak’s, will be planted in June at the Mercer County Courthouse to honor all Mercer County residents who have shed blood to keep us free from tyranny,” Linda said.
The dedication ceremony will include Soldiers of History from Grafton, Ohio, an organization that portrays soldiers from America’s wars, who will water the Tree of Liberty with symbolic red water. Widows of the county’s veterans decorated the tree with pictures of their loved ones Friday.
Linda said the first Liberty Tree was planted in the 1600s and prompted Thomas Jefferson to say: “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”
Also, there will be a mass induction into the military of an estimated 150 area residents at 9 a.m. May 31 at the courthouse bandstand. Residents of Mercer, Lawrence, Venango and Crawford counties in Pennsylvania and Trumbull County in Ohio will be escorted into position to take the oath by the 910th Airlift Wing Base Honor Guard Colors Detail. The 910th is stationed at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna, Ohio.
The 500 got its start when the Browns and a few others found there was no parade in Mercer on the Memorial Day after the terrorist attacks Sept. 11, 2001.
Upset, they took it upon themselves to organize a parade for 2003, and it has been growing ever since. The Browns have organized the event since 2004.
Mark, 64, and Linda, 66, both widowed, met in 1998 during a summer concert at the courthouse, and were married Sept. 4, 1999. They live on Erie Street.
Mark, a 1964 graduate of Mercer High School, retired after teaching mathematics at Sharpsville, Pa., High School for 33 years. Linda, a 1961 graduate of Mercer High School, retired from Vantage Healthcare Network, formerly Option Care, in Meadville, Pa., where she was a medical secretary.
Originally, the flags were a source of revenue to offset parade expenses.
For $25, sponsors could get a flag and a set of dog tags attached to it, most dedicated to veterans, Linda said.
The 500 flags will be erected by volunteers beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday.
The parade and surrounding events have grown, and so has the budget, which averages about $12,000 a year, Linda said.
The 500 is over in a weekend for those who participate, but for the Browns, the Memorial Day event has become nearly a year-round project. They will begin work on the 2011 Mercer Memorial Day 500 in July lining up groups and events.
Despite the work, the 500 is a labor of love for the Browns, who wanted a day to honor veterans that veterans don’t have to organize themselves.
The purpose of the day is to honor the dead. When people come to the parade and leave without going to the cemetery, they have missed the whole point. So the parade route includes the cemetery, drawing people there, Linda said.
“Our goal is to promote patriotism by presenting a respectful, solemn and memorable event to remind citizens of the price of freedom,” she said.