One hundred years ago, as the Great War continued raging in Europe, a veteran who lived in Liverpool – Fred Kies – decided to make Decoration Day something special here.
Kies, who died in 1979 at age 83, founded the village’s Memorial Day Parade, and he kept it marching along for six solid decades. That’s right, Fred Kies (pronounced Keys) served as general chairman of the Memorial Day Parade here from 1918 to 1978.
Fred and his family were honored by the naming of a road near Long Branch Elementary School as Kies Drive.
Post 188 member Fred Wyker, a World War II veteran, followed in Fred Kies’ footsteps, chairing the Memorial Day observance here for more than three decades, starting in 1979.
Parade Monday
This year’s Memorial Day Parade, hosted by American Legion Post 188, begins after a 9 a.m. service at Johnson Park, on Monday, May 28. Ken Palmer is the current Post 188 commander.
After Monday morning’s speeches and awards to area students, the parade will form on Second Street. Led as usual by a Liverpool Police cruiser, marchers will head east toward Memorial Park, which features a World War II-era cannon and where the parade traditionally pauses for a brief prayer.
Then the bands, fire engines and floats will roll west on Oswego Street and north on Tulip Street as it makes its way toward Liverpool Cemetery, at the corner of Fifth and Tulip streets.
Graves decorated
At the cemetery, the graves of all military veterans will have been decorated with new American flags placed there over the weekend by Post 188 members and volunteers, often Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.
At the cemetery “Taps” will be intoned and a firing squad will salute the heroes with a volley of shots.
By the way, Fred Kies is interred at Liverpool Cemetery in Section 5, Plot 39.
It’s probably not too late to join the parade. All area fraternal organizations and scout troops are invited to participate. Call the Legion at (315) 457-5468.
Uriah’s closes
After some 18 months in business, Uriah’s bar and restaurant on Route 57 in Clay closed its doors last month. By my count, that’s at least the ninth tavern operation to rise and then fall at 7990 Oswego Road (Route 57). How many can you name?
Pickle plans
Last week, I enjoyed lunch at the Brooklyn Pickle on Burnet Avenue, and while I was there I said hello to owner Ken Sniper. The deli honcho, his partner Craig Kowadla and their architect were hunched over a set of blueprints.
“I hope those are plans for Buckley Road,” I said. Kenny grinned from ear to ear and nodded.
The Brooklyn Pickle, a Central New York institution since 1975, plans to open a new restaurant on the site of the former Hafner’s Red Barn at 7175 Buckley Road in Clay. Sniper and Kowadla presently operate two shops, one on the east side of the city at 2222 Burnet Ave. and one on the West End at 1600 W. Genesee St.
The new Brooklyn Pickle will appeal to the thousands of employees and patients at the nearby North Medical Center. The deli/restaurant, which offers seating at both locations, serves homemade deli sandwiches, subs, soups and specials.
Mega-millions
Last week 984 voters approved the Liverpool Central School District’s 2018-19 budget of $157,546,184. Just 282 voters registered their disapproval. While the district serves a population of more than 50,000, just 1,266 people bothered to cast ballots in the May 15 budget vote.
So the district will spend $21,707 to educate each of its 7,000-plus students, a $645 increase over last year’s number.
Across the country, annual school expenditures per student is approximately $13,000, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
Last word
“The full extent of the continuing rise in school spending since the recession was not inevitable or unavoidable. It was the result of increasing teacher compensation costs driven largely by automatic pay raises and continued relatively high levels of staffing, relative to enrollment, especially in non-teaching titles.”
– E.J. McMahon, Empire Center for Public Policy.
Contact the columnist at [email protected].
