Every year, rain or shine, the group of veterans, most gray-headed and in uniform, caravan from Preston to Fall City to North Bend to Snoqualmie, carrying on a solemn, unbroken Memorial Day tradition.

The crowds at the local cemeteries aren’t large, but usually contain a troop of children, Boy and Girl Scouts, who join their elders in a salute to the soldiers entombed there, those who died in military service to their country.

“Most people see this as a day off, when the true meaning of the day is lost,” said Steve Fenton, past commander of Snoqualmie Valley’s Renton-Pickering American Legion Post.

Memorial Day dates to 1866, and for vets like Fenton, it is not a day for loafing, but for remembering those who gave all in the line of duty. It’s also a day for education, and Fenton wants more people to join the caravan through the Valley and reflect on sacrifice.

The American Legion, Legion Auxiliary, Veterans for Foreign Wars and local Scouts take part in traditional ceremonies on Monday, May 30. The groups visit Preston Cemetery at 9 a.m., Fall City at 10 a.m., North Bend at 11 a.m. and at the veteran’s memorial at Mount Si High School in Snoqualmie at noon.

A memorial day lunch—hot dogs, chili, salad and dessert are on the menu—follows from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Renton-Pickering Post, 38635 River St., Snoqualmie.

Poppy sales

Each year for Memorial Day, volunteers with the American Legion Auxiliary with the local Renton-Pickering unit distribute bright red paper poppies in the Snoqualmie Valley in exchange for donations to assist disabled and hospitalized veterans.

Legion volunteers sell replicas of the original Flanders’ poppy, Thursday through Sunday, May 26 to 29, at North Bend Safeway and QFC.

Seth Truscott/Staff Photo

Northwest Railway Museum volunteer Martin Neveremer and Executive Director Richard Anderson bring the restored White River Lumber Company caboose into the newly completed Train Shed and exhibit building. A grand opening is planned for September 17.