43
Memorial Day Weekend
YOUNGSTOWN
High gas prices were among the reasons Jeremy Jewell of Girard and his family stayed home last year for Memorial Day weekend.
“It’s too expensive,” he said.
But this year, Jewell will be taking the family to Pymatuning State Park in Pennsylvania – a 40-minute drive from Jewell’s home. The family plans to “get some charcoal and grill out” at the beach, he said.
Auto club AAA predicts that about 37.2 mil- lion motorists will travel at least 50 miles on the nation’s highways for Memorial Day festivities this weekend. That’s a 4.7 percent increase from the 35.5 mil- lion who traveled last year and the highest travel volume for the holiday weekend since 2005.
“Auto travel continues to be the most- popular mode of travel. More than 88 percent of holiday travelers will be driving and will be seeing lower gas prices in many surrounding areas,” Jim Lehman, president of AAA East Central, said in a statement.
Within a week of Memorial Day, AAA reported the national average gas price at $2.71 per gallon, down 94 cents compared with $3.65 per gallon last year. The average gas price for Youngstown was $2.65 per gallon as of Thursday compared with $3.67 a year ago.
More than 6 million people from Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin expect to travel this weekend with 5.4 million driving by car — up 5.4 percent from 2014.
On the other hand, Tamica Gullick of Youngstown is among the many who plan to stay home this holiday. She plans to barbecue for her son’s birthday Monday, cooking ribs, hamburgers and banana pudding for dessert.
There also will be parades, ceremonies and other events throughout the communities of the Mahoning Valley this holiday weekend to honor the nation’s military dead. These include the Packard Band’s Memorial Day Remembrance concert at W.D. Packard Music Hall, 1703 Mahoning Ave. NW in Warren, at 3 p.m. Sunday. Conducted by Stephen L. Gage, the band will perform a musical tribute to the fallen men and women in the armed forces. Gage said the concert is usually well-attended.
“One of the greatest tributes in all walks of life is music,” he said, adding that he’s proud to honor America’s true heroes.
Further, the American Legion will host a parade traveling from Main Street to West Park Avenue to Firestone Cemetery in Columbiana at 10 a.m., Monday. At the same time, the Boardman Kiwanis Club will host its 111th annual Memorial Day parade and service starting at Boardman Center Middle School.
“We’re seeing more people in the parade,” said Mark Luke, a member of Boardman Kiwanis and master of the ceremonies for the event.
Luke said there seems to be more Memorial Day events than ever in the Valley and that more people are attending the parade to show civic pride.
Memorial Day is “something to be taken more serious,” he said.
Valley residents also will welcome the warm weather this weekend.
Although Saturday morning will be freezing in some areas, the day will warm to the upper 60s, said Eric Wilhelm, chief meteorologist for 21 WFMJ-TV, The Vindicator’s broadcast partner.
Sunday will be warmer with a high of 77.
The high for Memorial Day should be 83 with stray showers or thunderstorms — but dry for most of the day, Wilhelm said.
Some local businesses will honor the holiday. The Western Reserve Flag Co., 19 Stadium Drive in Boardman, will have special hours from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
“We just like to promote patriotism,” said Ron Craig, who runs the store with his wife, Moe, since it opened in 2005. The store sells a variety of flags with nearly all of them made in America.
“People didn’t die for the flag; they died for what it stands for,” he said.
Memorial Day stretches back to three years after the Civil War ended when Gen. John A. Logan, head of a Union veterans organization, declared that Decoration Day was to take place at the end of May. Logan’s son, Maj. John A. Logan, is buried at Oak Hill Cemetery on the city’s South Side, according to Vindicator files.
It was not until after World War I that the day was expanded to honor those who have died in all American wars. Memorial Day was declared a national holiday by an act of Congress in 1971.
“Memorial Day weekend is not about barbecues,” said retired Marine Staff Sgt. James Skok of Austintown, who served in the Marines from 1992 to 2010.
He hopes people “would take a moment” on Memorial Day to reflect about the sacrifices made by those who served in the war.
“Freedom is not free,” he said.