Our Post has been coordinating the events in St. Charles surrounding Memorial Day for decades. Services are held at three area cemetaries with large intrerrments of veterans dating back to the Civil War. The servicies consist of an Honor Guard, flag raising, playing of Taps, Boy & Girl Scouts laying flags and poppies upon each veteran gravesite beginning at 6:30 am through approximately 8am. Following the three services a pancake breakfast serves about 200, and is performed by the Boy Scout troops, provided by our Post. The community parade is maintained as a non-commercial, purely Memorial event and steps off at 10 am, followed by a ceremony held at the "Freedom Shrine" near the Riverwalk and our police station. A Mayoral Proclamation and Veteran Keynote Address mark the close of the City event. This is traditionally followed by a picnic-style lunch for membership of all four Posts: Legion & Auxiliary, VFW and AMVETS. Recently, we have been joined at the St. Charles Veterans Center (2019) by the Vietnam Veterans of America. In 2016 we took on a massive project- to serve the City residents and parade-goers an old-fashioned "Ice Cream Social & Picnic" after the parade, to create a spirit of fellowship among our Community and Veterans.
Our Post paid a local premium-quality, longstanding St. Charles family-owned store, The Blue Goose, who provided spomsorship discounts for freshly-grilled brats, hamburgers, hotdogs, chips and beverages as well as staff to grill and serve. We added iced custard dessert cups from Culvers through a sponsorship and served as many as would come....and come, they did! In the first year we served over 800, and in 2017 it topped 2,000. Patriotic live music, a magician, face painting and giant lawn games added further enjoyment to the day for our Community! In 2018, we merged our original group of three Posts into one meeting center, and so, we held a private Open House & Chamber of Commerce Ribbon Cutting for Post membership and families only that Memorial Day. However, thie next year, 2019, we would see a new sponsorship and partnership with Onesti Entertainment, who assumed the role of providing both the Veterans Luncheon and the Public Picnic! These would be held at the historic Arcada Theater on Main Street in downtown St. Charles.
