The 69th Berks County Armed Forces Day Parade will begin in the 800 block of Penn Ave., Wyomissing, at 10am sharp, rain or shine on Saturday, May 20. The parade will end at approximately noon.
The parade will follow penn avenue east into west reading. At third avenue, the parade will turn right. At spruce street, the parade will turn right. At south 7th avenue, the parade will turn left and disband.
This year’s host service the the Pennsylvania National Guard. The reviewing officer is Jeffrey R. Elliott, Col-US Army (Ret) BG-PA (Ret). The 2/104 Cav., Pennsylvania Army National Guard, will serve as the parade marshal, representing the three national guard units in Berks County. They are in Hamburg, Kutztown and Reading.
We will have Gold Star mother Maria Vidal and Gold Star family members Stewart and Sandy lerch, Junior ROTC units from Reading and Wilson High Schools, the 2017 PA State Boys Basketball champion team from Reading High School, the veterans organizations, fire companies, the Crazy Hot Dog Vendor, Rajah clowns and a number of community groups in this year’s parade. The Berks County All Star Marching Band, which includes high school musicians from numerous Berks County high schools, will also join us. The Buccaneer Alumni drum and bugle corps and the Hamilton Celtic Pipe Band will appear as well.
