Memorial Day Activities

NEW YORK—Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for soldiers and sailors who died in the service of our nation. As the parades and barbecues take place across the city, all of us can take a moment to remember those who gave their lives to protect our freedoms. In the effort to reinvigorate the true spirit of the day, the White House issued the “National Moment of Remembrance” resolution in May 2000 to remind Americans of the real meaning of the day. The resolution asks all Americans “to voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to ‘Taps,’” at 3 p.m. local time.

Below is a list of Memorial Day activities in New York City on Monday, May 30.

Memorial Day Observance

Soldiers’ & Sailors’ Monument at 89th Street and Riverside Drive. 10 a.m–11:30 a.m. This year’s ceremony will honor the 150th anniversary of the Civil War with a musical tribute, procession of historic color guards, and military and historical addresses. The U. S. Marine Corps Band will perform a medley of patriotic music beginning at 10 a.m. The Grand Procession, led by the New York Scottish Pipes and Drums, will set off at 10:30 a.m.

Fleet Week Activities

Free ship tours at Pier 88, located at 48th Street and West Side Highway, and at Stapleton Pier on Staten Island. 8 a.m.–5 p.m.

Raising Citizens’ “Meet & Greet” with U.S. Military at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, located at 212 West 83rd Street, 10 a.m.– 5 p.m.

Memorial Day Ceremony at the Flight Deck of the Intrepid Museum, at 46th Street and West Side Highway. 11 a.m. The event will include ceremonial wreath laying, a Three Volley Salute, the unfurling of a 100-foot American flag, and a fly-over of military aircrafts in the missing-man formation.

Little Neck-Douglaston Memorial Day Parade

The 82nd annual Little Neck-Douglaston Memorial Day Parade will start at Northern Boulevard and Jayson Street in Great Neck, Queens, at 2 p.m. The Little Neck-Douglaston Memorial Day Parade is billed as the largest Memorial Day Parade in the nation. The grand marshal will be Master Sergeant Chester L. Marcus Jr. of the U.S. Army Reserve. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Queens Borough President Helen Marshall will be the honorary grand marshals.

The Metropolitan Museum

The Metropolitan Museum of Art will be open on Memorial Day from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. as part of the special “Met Holiday Mondays.”

Memorial Day Concert With New York Philharmonic

The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, at West 112th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. 8 p.m. Free and open to all. Seating will be on a first-come, first-serve basis. Tickets will be distributed on the day of the concert. Music will also be piped out onto the adjacent Pulpit Green, weather permitting. Alan Gilbert will conduct the program, which will include Barber’s Adagio for Strings and Beethoven‘s Symphony No.3, "Eroica."