MUSKEGON, Mich. — Muskegon Mayor Ken Johnson said organizers of the Muskegon Memorial Day Parade are starting with a fresh start. Each year, paradegoers crowd the streets of downtown Muskegon for the popular tradition of honoring fallen heroes. This year, organizers said they want to leave last year’s troubles behind.
“A new group of people have stepped up to organize the parade this year to keep the tradition alive,” Mayor Ken Johnson said.
Muskegon’s Memorial Day Parade is set to return after last year’s parade was almost canceled over controversy involving the Muskegon branch National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a non-profit organization that former committee members said was a political organization. In previous years, the organization participated in the parade. However, last year they were told they were not allowed to participate. The decision was later reversed, but committee members had already received harassing phone calls which led to the disbanding of the committee.
“We know we're going to make mistakes, but learning from those mistakes and then being able to take those and carry them on forward so that we can have a better parade even for next year is what matters,” chairperson Mike Osborn said.
Although NAACP was disinvited and later reinvited last year, Johnson said he welcomes the organization with open arms.
“They are certainly welcome to participate and we hope that they do participate in this year's parade,” Johnson said. "We have reached out and shared the application and invited them to join us.”
With a new, diverse committee, organizers believe 2024’s parade will be a success. They’re hoping for a large crowd and have already secured parade participants. They will still be accepting applications until May 17.
“We don't want it to be a politicized event. We want it to be a respectful occasion honoring our fallen heroes,” Johnson said.
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