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Picnic serves Mid-Ohio Valley veterans

Photo by Wayne Towner Christina Buskirk, left, of Vienna, and Chris McMullen, of Parkersburg, attended Sunday’s “Thank You” Cookout hosted by the Veterans Museum of the Mid-Ohio Valley at City Park in Parkersburg. Buskirk is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and McMullen served in the U.S. Marine Corps.

PARKERSBURG — In the midst of a weekend of parades and services honoring the fallen for Memorial Day, the Veterans Museum of the Mid-Ohio Vally continued its tradition of holding a “Thank You” cookout in Parkersburg

The cookout was held from noon- 3 p.m. Sunday at the large shelter near the pond at City Park.

Candice Bennett, vice president of the museum’s board of directors, said about 100 people turned out for Sunday’s event, a smaller number than usual which she attributed to a stormy weather forecast. Luckily, the rain held off until later Sunday afternoon and the cookout enjoyed warm and sunny weather.

“It went really well. We had a lot of donations from a lot of different peoples in the community, different companies, organizations and things like that,” Bennett said of the cookout, adding the remaining food was being donated to the Latrobe Street Mission.

“Every year we have a standing reservation for the shelter” for the Sunday of Memorial Weekend. “We’re here every year, Sunday afternoon, for our cookout,” she said.

In past years, the museum at 1829 Seventh St. would be open for the holiday, but Bennett said the museum will not be open today for Memorial Day. Its hours are Wednesday through Friday from 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

Bennett said activities and fundraisers involving the museum are continuing, with two events scheduled in July at Minibel Golf Course in Vienna and the Wendy’s Restaurant on Park Avenue in Parkersburg.

In March, volunteers did a large rotation of the exhibits at the museum with a smaller one planned in August.

“We have a lot of new things out … We have so many thing we need to display and not enough room to display it,” Bennett said.

In addition to the exhibits, the museum is also involved in the Stepping Stones of Honor memorial brick program at City Park, a medal replacement program, a small food pantry and others.

“We have so many things we’ve just started doing,” Bennett said.

Today’s scheduled Memorial Day parades and services include:

* Marietta, 8 a.m. today, parade in Harmar Village

* Williamstown, 9 a.m. today, parade to Riverview Cemetery

* Beverly-Waterford, 9 a.m. today, parade and services

* Marietta, 10 a.m. today, parade in downtown Marietta to Oak Grove Cemetery

* Parkersburg, 10 a.m. today, City Park

* Lowell, 11 a.m. today, Lowell

* Belpre, 11 a.m. today, Leavitt Funeral Home

* Ripley, 11 a.m. today, Jackson County Courthouse

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