No matter what you hear or read on the web, Waterloo, New York is the Official Birthplace of Memorial Day.
About 20 other towns try and claim that recognition, but it was in 1966 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the proclamation, approved by Congress, that declared Waterloo the birthplace of the holiday.
That came 100 years after the first time the graves of Civil War soldiers were decorated in Waterloo.
The National Memorial Day Museum, at 35 East Main Street, is open today from Noon to 5pm.
Schedule of Events
All Photos by Greg Cotterill, Finger Lakes Daily News.
(Here is a gallery of photos from Saturday, just click on a picture and then use the arrows to change the photo.)
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