A steady drizzle would not interfere with the Tisbury School’s annual March to the Sea.

It did liven the pace, however.

“We left so quickly that the police escort didn’t meet us till halfway,” a teacher told an onlooker Friday during the annual tribute when schoolchildren walk from the Tisbury School to Owen Park to throw flowers in the water to commemorate fallen American soldiers.

Children in Chilmark and Edgartown observed their own marches to the sea Friday, although in Edgartown the celebration was held in the gym due to the rainy weather.

In Vineyard Haven, there was determination.

Out with the tide, in remembrance of those who gave their lives for their country. — Tova Katzman

“No doubt we were going. If it wasn’t a hurricane, we were doing it,” school principal John Custer said.

Students scampered down Main street carrying flowers and American flags. The flowers were bring-your-own, and students showed up with an eclectic assortment of store-bought (roses and the like), and hand-picked (one student carried a bouquet of allium flowers).

The school band played a few rousing renditions of Uptown Funk as the students marched.

The mood became somber once everyone reached the park. Students recited the Pledge of Allegiance, which was followed by taps, played by Nick Cranston, Jonathan Norton and Taybor Estrella.

Then the children moved to place their flowers in the water, grade by grade. The kindergarteners, who went first, walked in pairs, holding hands. Older students walked single file.

An uncharacteristic quiet hung over the schoolchildren and their onlookers, which included a few veterans of the armed services. Flowers floated on a gray sea, carried out toward buoys by a light current.

The students marched back up toward the park’s flagpole where the mood lightened once again as the band reprised their performance of Uptown Funk.

Once everyone was assembled, Asher Gates, Sydney Brown and Maria Clara Lacerda sang the national anthem.

Jo Ann Murphy, retired U.S. Army sergeant, former commander of the American Legion and current Dukes County veterans services director, delivered brief remarks exhorting the students to recognize the true significance of the holiday. The flag was lowered to half mast.

Riley Leonard, a fifth grader at the school, called the event “a good chance to devote our thanks to our fallen soldiers.”