Annual Memorial Day Parade and Ceremony are Cancelled

KINGSTON, NY – Mayor Steven T. Noble and the Kingston Veterans Association have cancelled the 2020 Memorial Day parade and ceremony at City Hall, due to a ban on all gatherings in the state of New York. The organizers will instead hold the event on Veterans’ Day, if guidelines and recommendations at that time allow. 

 “While we won’t have a public ceremony this year, it is still important for us all to personally pay tribute to those who have lost their lives fighting for our country,” said Mayor Noble. 

“I would also ask that we take a moment to thank all active duty and National Guard members who have stepped up to help during this pandemic. These men and women have bravely seen communities like ours through a scary and uncertain time, and should be commended. 

” For other ways to support the Kingston Veterans Associations, please visit: https://kingstonvets.org/

Past Videos of  Memorial Day Ceremony and Parades 2014 to 2019

Common Council 3/3/2020 Kingston, NY

Video by The Kingston News link to Agendas & Minutes

Due to COVID-19 and in order to provide safe conditions and continuity for our community, city staff and council members, all Kingston Common Council meetings (that include the monthly caucus, full council and committee meetings) will be held remotely pursuant to Executive Order 202.1 until further notice.

3/13/2020 - City of Kingston Declares a State of Emergency, Mayor Noble Limits Access to Public Buildings 

4/6/2020 - Common Council Meetings Will be Held Via GoToMeeting

1890 Civil War monument in front of City Hall Kingston, NY

Daily Freeman >> article by Paul KirBy Dec 20, 2002 

Kingston council approves Civil War monument 

KINGSTON - The Common Council voted unanimously on Wednesday to let a historian establish a monument to local soldiers who fought in the Civil War.

The historian, Olive resident Seward Osborne, has said he will cover the cost of the monument, expected to be in T.R. Gallo Park (formerly West Strand Park) to honor the 20th New York State Militia, a Union regiment whose members hailed from Ulster and Greene counties.

Osborne, who attended Wednesday's council meeting, said the vote by city lawmakers signaled appreciation for the sacrifice the regiment made during the Civil War.

"It says to them that their forebearers care, that there is some real meaning and substance behind their sacrifices and what they gave for these people who voted on this issue," Osborne said.

Alderman Scott DiMicco, R-Ward 1, said the city has taken its history seriously over the years and this is another indication of that commitment.

"We have always been a city that has promoted its past," DiMicco said.

Council Majority Leader Bill Reynolds, D-Ward 7, said it's important for the city to honor the soldiers who "fought in the bloodiest battle in American history."

Minority Leader Robert Senor, R-Ward 8, said the Civil War monument will bring more notice of history to an already-historic part of the city. Senor represents the area where the monument is to be placed.

"I think that it is a blessing to have history out there for the public," Senor said.

Osborne has pushed for the Kingston monument for years but says it was Kingston Civil War historian Walter Witkowski who first suggested the idea to Mayor James Sottile.

Osborne said he need approval by early January in order to get the monument made by the planned dedication date of April 28. It was on that date in 1861 that a throng of well-wishers saw the regiment, known as the Ulster Guard, off from the banks of the Rondout Creek and into war.

About 950 of the soldiers returned from the war 90 days after they left Kingston. They then reorganized in October 1861 and fought in the war until Jan. 29, 1866.

The monument, made of granite, is to be about 5 feet tall, 30 inches wide and 10 inches thick. Osborne is planning an inscription that will read, in part: "The Ulster Guard was one of the top 300 fighting regiments of the Union Army."