The Tigers Are Coming
The orange-and-black-clad masses will be descending on downtown Princeton and the Princeton University campus beginning this Thursday, May 23, for the university’s annual reunions events continuing through Sunday, May 26. Graduating seniors and their families will be in town through the school’s 2024 commencement ceremony on Tuesday, May 28. Allow yourself extra time to drive through or find parking in and around downtown Princeton.
While most reunions events are intended for university alumni and their families, and admission to the reunions tents on campus requires a university-issued wristband in the evenings, the highlights of the weekend are open to the public.
The annual P-Rade kicks off in front of Nassau Hall on Saturday, May 25, at 2 p.m., as classes march through campus from the very oldest returning alumni to the graduating class of 2024.
The annual fireworks display starts at 9:15 p.m. Saturday night, following a performance by the Princeton University Orchestra, in Princeton Stadium. Note that Faculty Road between Washington Road and FitzRandolph will be closed starting at 7 p.m., and sections of Washington Road, Western Way, and FitzRandolph will be closed at 8:45 p.m.
Prior to the P-Rade, Princeton’s Spirit of Princeton Memorial Day Parade celebrates members of the military services with a festive community parade on Saturday, May 25, at 10 a.m.
Organizers are particularly excited about the parade’s grand marshal and featured speaker: U.S. Air Force Second Lieutenant Sara Deczynski, a 2019 graduate of Stuart Country Day School.
All residents — young and old and in between — are encouraged to wave their miniature American flags (provided at no cost by Spirit of Princeton) and greet the veterans and active members of the United States military services as they march down Nassau Street to Monument Plaza. Rain or shine, the Spirit of Princeton Memorial Day Parade kicks off at 10 a.m. from the staging area of Nassau Street and Princeton Avenue. Those who are marching should arrive at 9:15. a.m. to the Monument Hall parking lot and take the shuttle bus to the parade staging area.
The parade route is one mile on Nassau Street ending at Monument Plaza, where a brief ceremony will take place at 11 a.m. on the steps of Monument Hall. The celebration ends by noon.
As noted above, Air Force Second Lieutenant Sara Deczynski will be leading the parade as grand marshal and then as the featured speaker at the ceremony on the steps of Memorial Hall. After graduating from Stuart in 2019, Sara enrolled in the U.S. Air Force Academy and graduated in 2023 with a bachelor of science in military and strategic studies. She graduated third (first among the women cadets) in her Air Force Academy class out of 4,000 cadets. Sara also is the first in Stuart’s history to graduate from the US Air Force Academy. Currently stationed at Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida, Sara is undergoing Undergraduate Combat Systems Officer Training and serves as an advisory board member of Zoomies Against Sexual Assault (ZASA).
All veterans are encouraged to march, as well as children from kindergarten to fifth grade who can ride in the Patriotic Bike Brigade. The parade is renowned for the variety of community participating groups including:
Princeton Police Department; Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad; Princeton Fire Department; Princeton Council members (mayor and council members); MacGregor Pipe Band; American Legion Post 218; Operation Phoenix; Princeton Cranbury Chapter Sons of the American Revolution; Princeton Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution; Crescent Shrine Mini Car Unit; Colonial Musketeers;Boy Scout Troop 43; Princeton Girl Scouts; Princeton Little League; Burlington City Marching Band; Mercer County Chapter of Sunshine Foundation;New Jersey State Society Children of the American Revolution; Stuart Country Day School; Princeton Active Circle.
Reenactor units are: Spencer’s Additional Continental Regiment; Colonel Ogden’s 1st New Jersey Regiment; 5th Pennsylvania Regiment; Trenton JROTC.
Princeton Battlefield Society invites all Memorial Day Parade participants and viewers to continue the Memorial Day commemoration with A Day of Remembrance Program, 1 p.m., Princeton Battlefield State Park, 500 Mercer Street.
Wanted: A Place to Plant Trees
Would you like to attract more butterflies and birds to your backyard? Have you been thinking about planting more native trees and shrubs? Have you lost a favorite tree due to insects or storms? Is your property (of any size) located within the Sourland Mountain Region of Central New Jersey? The Sourland Conservancy may be able to help!
In 2022, the Sourland Conservancy was awarded a generous US Forest Service (USFS) grant to plant native trees and shrubs directly on private land within the Forest Service Priority Area within the Sourland Region. This work helps provide critical habitat and strengthen connectivity to help keep wildlife populations healthy.
The Sourland Conservancy is looking for 25 more Sourland Region residents who would like to have our staff plant native trees and shrubs on their property. All trees and shrubs will be protected with white plastic tree tubes. Residents must agree to maintain the trees and remove the tubes once the trees outgrow them.
If you are interested, please email your address to Sourland Conservancy’s Stewardship Director, Rob Aluck, at stewards@sourland.org to see if your property is located within the USFS Priority Area. Please use the subject line: USFS planting inquiry.
