The parade will go on this Remembrance Day at the Royal Canadian Legion in Port Moody, even though much of the building itself is closed for future redevelopment.
Remembrance Day ceremonies at the PoMo Legion will include a parade, laying of wreaths at the cenotaph, a 21-gun cannon salute and a post-ceremony reception, said Legion president Faye Johnson.
She said there has been some confusion over whether the event would take place this year. Branch 119 closed on Jan. 1 in preparation for construction at the Clarke Street site, where TL Housing Solutions Ltd. will build a five-storey mixed-use development.
"It's Remembrance Day, that's why we're here, to honour our veterans," Johnson said of the decision to hold the popular ceremony this Nov. 11. In 2014, the Legion estimated more than 4,000 people came to pay their respects.
The day begins with a non-denominational service at Kyle Centre at 10 a.m. and the parade to the cenotaph at 10:30 a.m. At 11 a.m. — the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month — the crowd will observe a two-minute silence, following by the laying of the wreaths, a 21-gun cannon salute by the Seymour Artillery and a Swiftbird Ex-RAF team flyover.
The parade, which will include more than 500 cadets, Scouts, Girl Guides and Brownies joining the Legion colour party, veterans, Legion members and first responders, then returns to Kyle Centre for a post-ceremony reception from 12:30 to 7 p.m. (ages 19 and up).
That event includes the award-winning SFU Pipe and Drum Band (1 p.m.), DJ Russ Enair, Heather Jolley Highland Dancers (1:30 p.m.), Stave Falls Scottish Dancers (2:15 p.m.), Penk O'Donnell Irish Dancers (3 p.m.), Golden Spike Can Can Dancers (4 p.m.) and the Linda Jones Remembrance Show (5 to 7 p.m.).
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