South Bend’s Westside Memorial Day Parade celebrates 100 years

Kathy Borlik
| Columnist

South Bend’s Westside Memorial Day Parade will celebrate its 100th anniversary this year.
The parade will feature 65 units, including three high school bands, and a flyover.
For many residents and former residents, the event serves as an annual reunion and block party.
The parade also includes solemn remembrances, such as a Catholic Mass and a reading of names of veterans who died in the past year.

The Memorial Day parade on the westside of South Bend will step off at 8:15 a.m. next Monday, May 25. It will head east on Ford Street, past Lombardy Drive and continue for 17 blocks to Olive Street. The parade will have three bands and 65 other units.

This year marks an important milestone for the parade — 100 years.

Veterans groups and organizers have had a version of the Memorial Day parade since 1926. According to Tribune files, they marched on Western Avenue in the 1940s and 1950s. Ford Street became the route later, possibly in 1960.

It is more than a parade. There are family breakfasts and cookouts. Curbside buffets. The solemn aspect for veterans and families involves the Catholic Mass at St. Joseph Cemetery at 9:30 and a reading of names of veterans who died in the past year.

The parade part is a celebration, a block party to Kenny Andrews, 85. He grew up on Ford and Gladstone. “People who grew up here and moved away, but they all come back for the parade. It is a reunion every year.”

He recalled hearing the crowds gathering on the street when he was in his parents’ home. “My bedroom window faced Ford, so I couldn’t sleep in.”

It is family time for the Nyikos family. Three generations are participating. Deborah and daughter-in-law Jennifer on planners. Granddaughter Brittany Nyikos will be carrying the memorial wreath at the front of the parade. Brittany is in the Navy, petty officer second class and stationed in Minneapolis.

Jennifer said Brittany received special clearance to take part in the parade. “It is a special moment for the family.”

Organizers are making the final preparations. Getting programs printed, lining up the volunteers and checking weather forecasts. They will be at Navarre Middle School at 6 a.m. Monday to start off the show right.

Katie Gondocs is the co-marshal of the parade. She has been fundraising, social media, designing a T-shirt for the anniversary with The Dugout, working with the city and everything else. “Sunday before the parade, we spray paint numbers on Ford.” The entrants know where to stand. “Monday, we check with the city that the traffic cones are in place and the street corners are blocked.”

The parade starts and there is a little breathing room for the organizers. Jennifer says she says a little prayer at 8:15 each Memorial Day.

The route travels through a neighborhood that was mostly Eastern Europeans who were connected to Studebaker or Oliver Plow. Today, it is a diverse melting pot of a neighborhood.

Carrie Garrage grew up in the neighborhood and inherited a position on the planning committee from her mother, Jan Kowalski. “I participated in the parade when I was at Washington High and Holy Family. We wanted 100 units for the parade, but we got 65. We have Washington, Adams and Benton Harbor bands. Benton Harbor always delivers.”

The parade will have military units from the veterans groups, school children on floats, three high school bands, churches, car groups and horses.

Rev. Ryan Pietrocarolo of St. Adalbert Catholic Church will be part of the parade with 20 or so children, parents and teachers. “It is part of the neighborhood. It is automatic — Memorial Day and parade. It is a neat part of the day.”

Overhead, there will be a flyover with pilot Dr. Damian Dieter in his lemon-yellow Varga Kachina. “I’ve flown over for four or five years, then there was COVID. It is a way to honor my parents, and those who gave so much to their country. In the end, that’s what we must remember.”

Damian sent notes to 10 or so other pilots to join him. Depending on scheduling, there may be for our five others. “We will meet in the morning and walk through it. Take off about 8:30 and fly east to west.”

On the ground, there are Jeanie’s fans. Gary Weese is one of the owners of Jeanie’s Tavern on Ford and Bendix. “We look forward to the parade. What a fun day. Lots of people come by. It is a people’s parade. It isn’t a bunch of fancy floats. It is the neighborhood marching by. It is a cross section of the west side. Everyone claps and cheers. You always wave at 10 or 12 people that you know.”

Gary added that it is a wonderful credit to the community and organizers that it has continued.

CBS radio news to shut down

A little news you may have missed. CBS Radio News will close down Friday, May 22, after 99 years of delivering the news at the top of the hour on CBS stations and affiliates. The closing is a cost-saving measure.

Locally, WSBT-AM was an affiliate for years until 2005 or so. WBBM radio in Chicago is still part of the CBS network.

CBS Radio News brought us Edward R. Murrow, Robert Trout, Charles Osgood and Charles Kuralt.

As CBS reported in its announcement that it would end its radio division, the network was founded in 1927, but its March 13, 1938, broadcast after Nazi Germany’s annexation of Austria “changed how news was reported” and simultaneously launched Murrow’s career and the broadcast news format the network became famous for.

Getting the national news and then the local at five minutes past the hour was a way to start the morning for news junkies.

Bob Montgomery, morning anchor on WSBT-TV, and Jon Thompson shared the morning radio airways. Bob said when he heard the radio news division was closing, he was sure he misunderstood. “It has been the gold standard of news. What they did was better than anyone else. Sadly, it is part of a changing media landscape.”

Jon said the news was delivered professionally and the reporters were trustworthy. “It was always serious and you could count on it. I had the highest respect for those reporters.”

Contact Kathy at [email protected].