The annual Memorial Day parade stepped off smartly in Vineyard Haven Monday under overcast skies and a solemn air.

Memorial Day weekend is here, the ferries are full, the shops open, and the streets crowded.

On Friday, May 25 children at grammar schools around the Island will take part in March to the Sea rituals.

Military veterans and about 100 people gathered at the Tisbury School gymnasium to observe Memorial Day on Martha’s Vineyard. The ceremony was forced indoors by inclement weather.

A dedicated group participated in the third annual March for Heroes, a Memorial Day weekend trek to raise awareness and funds for veterans’ causes.

Memorial Day is both the start of summer and a weekend to honor fallen service men and women. Heartfelt offerings begin Friday with the March to the Sea tradition by Island schoolchildren.

Forced indoors by inclement weather, but determined to commemorate those who gave their lives in service to their country, Island veterans gathered to observe Memorial Day.

In an annual Memorial Day tradition, students in Chilmark, Tisbury and Edgartown will carry flowers to the sea on Friday, May 27 to commemorate Memorial Day.

At a ceremony Monday, Paul J. Brawley, a commander in the United States Navy Reserve, quoted Gen. Douglas MacArthur: “The soldier above all other people prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.”

Not long after sunrise, volunteers gathered in Oak Grove Cemetery in Vineyard Haven to help set up the Avenue of the Flags, commemorating those who served. Community members young and old helped prepare this final leg of the Memorial Day parade.