| Edward Brancati, a U.S Army veteran and Chairman of the Board of Fire Commissioners of the Golden’s Bridge Fire District, has been named Grand Marshal of the Golden’s Bridge Fire Department 2026 annual Memorial Day Parade.
A long-time resident of Golden’s Bridge where he and his recently deceased wife, Susan, raised their three children, Brancati will lead the parade when it steps off on Memorial Day, May 25, at 9:15 a.m. from Bradys Farm Rd. and proceeds to the Golden’s Bridge Firehouse. An emotion-stirring ceremony will immediately follow the parade on the firehouse grounds, highlighted by guest speakers of the Town of Lewisboro Veterans Advisory Committee and the placement of ceremonial wreaths at the iconic American Legion Monument outside the firehouse entrance. Breakfast refreshments will be served at the conclusion of the event. All veterans, residents, and local organizations are invited to march in the parade and attend the ceremony, which organizers say brings the community together to express its collective gratitude and remember those who gave their lives in service to their country.
“Honoring Edward Brancati has been a long time coming – first and foremost for his service to our country, but also for his service to our community. He has been a steady and guiding hand of the Golden’s Bridge Fire District for three decades,” said Joe Simoncini, chair of the Department’s Memorial Day Parade and Ceremony Committee and a fire commissioner who serves on the board with Brancati. “He was the committee’s unanimous choice for Parade Grand Marshal.”
Those who intend to join the line of march should gather by 9 a.m. on Bradys Farm Rd., just east of the firehouse. Children are encouraged to patriotically decorate their bicycles, scooters and wagons and ride them in the parade, which will turn onto Rt. 138 from Bradys Farm Rd. and proceed west to the firehouse. The Golden’s Bridge Fire Department Color Guard, firefighters in dress uniform, and the Grand Marshal riding in the Fire Chief’s vehicle will be followed by families and community participants, local Scouts, elected officials, the Lewisboro Volunteer Ambulance Corps, and the GBFD fleet.
Local residents will play major roles at this year’s ceremony. Singing the National Anthem will be Golden’s Bridge resident and soprano Heather Mieko Lackey, who has performed in numerous musicals on national tours, in regional theaters and off-Broadway, and who currently serves as chief of staff to New York State Assemblyman Chris Burdick. Tom Gossett, of Gossett Brothers Nursery in South Salem, will play taps. John Lemke, chair of the Lewisboro Veterans Advisory Committee, and Committee member Mark Vibert will be among the speakers and local participants.
Among the traditional observances that will highlight the ceremony, the American flag will be raised and lowered half-staff to the two-minute toll of the iconic firehouse bell. One of the dramatic and solemn moments of the ceremony will come when three GBFD officers recite the 76 Golden’s Bridge residents, including three Gold Star veterans, who served in World War I and World War II whose names are engraved on two bronze plaques on the 4-ton granite American Legion Monument. The event will conclude with ceremonial wreaths placed on either side of the monument.
Brancati, who humbly accepted the Grand Marshal designation, enlisted in the U.S. Army after graduating with a bachelor of arts degree in political science from Middlebury College in Vermont, where he played football and served in the institution’s Reserve Officers Training Corps. After reporting to Fort Benning in Georgia on Dec. 7, 1969, he went on to serve as an infantry lieutenant while stationed for nearly three years at Kelley Barracks in Stuttgart, Germany, as a member of the 16th Aviation Battalion of the VII Corps. After his honorable discharge, Brancati spent more than three-and-a-half-decades in Westchester County government positions. He has also been a volunteer Fire Commissioner for 30 years with the Golden’s Bridge Fire District, 20 of them as Chairman of the Board.
Breakfast refreshments will be served at the conclusion of the ceremony. For more information, contact the GBFD’s community liaison via email at pub3634@gmail.com, or text/call 914-403-4072. |
