06-05-2025
Memorial Day parade and event scheduled in Mazeppa
MAZEPPA — A long-standing Memorial Day tradition will kick off in Union County on May 25.
The Mazeppa Union Church at 3200 Johnson Mill Road will host the annual Memorial Day Parade at 6 p.m. May 25. It will be followed by a ceremony in the church cemetery with special guest speaker Don Turner.
"This is a great community event," church secretary/treasurer Hazel Roush said. "It draws the people together. They sit on their porches all through Mazeppa. It's a great community gathering to honor those who sacrificed everything for us."
The parade forms in the area of Thomas' Garage, 2499 Johnson Mill Road, and travels through Mazeppa toward the Union Church cemetery. Fire companies, residents and community organizations are part of the parade, Roush said.
Turner, a veteran from Mazeppa who served in the U.S. Army during Operation Desert Storm, will speak during the ceremony, she said.
The event has special music and a 22-gun salute by the American Legion. The ceremony is followed by an ice cream social in the community center sponsored by the Good Time 4-H Club, Roush said.
Doug Walter, of the nonprofit Union County Veterans Foundation, is a former organizer of the event. The parade and ceremony remind Walter of Mayberry, a fictional community that was the setting of the television sitcom "The Andy Griffith Show" in the 1960s.
"It's hometown America the way it should be and small-town America at its best," Walter said. "It's small and simple, and that's what makes it special."
