DOWAGIAC — The streets of Dowagiac will be festive Monday morning, as residents will be parading downtown in order to celebrate and remember those who have given their lives for the United States.

Memorial Day events will take place in Dowagiac at 10:30 a.m. Monday, May 28. There will be a ceremony outside city hall. The parade, which kicks off at 11 a.m., will proceed to Riverside Cemetery for a Veterans’ Service. The event will be hosted by the Masons of Peninsular Lodge #10.

Jim Benedix, who is helping to organize the event, said it is a tradition for many in Dowagiac. He said that he can even remember attending the Memorial Day parade when he was in the Boy Scouts many years ago.

“We are creatures of habit. We haven’t changed anything [about the Memorial Day festivities] since the beginning of time, I think,” Benedix said. “But that is the way people like and remember it. … This ceremony is part of Dowagiac. If it works, it works.”

Though there will be a parade and festivities taking place in Dowagiac on Memorial Day, Benedix said the important part of the holiday was remembering veterans and those who have served the country.

“This is all about our veterans, definitely. It’s important to remember our veterans and what Memorial Day is really for,” he said. “It’s important for any community to do that, and our specific ceremony is a tradition for Dowagiac and something that people look forward to.”

In addition to events held on Memorial Day, the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians will be hosting one of its biannual pow wows Memorial Day weekend.

The Pokagon Band is hosting its ninth annual Oshke-Kno-Kewéwen Pow Wow, an annual celebration honoring Pokagon veterans and the community’s Eagle Staff. The event, which features traditional dancing and singing, will take place Saturday, May 26 and Sunday, May 27, at the Pokagon Band’s pow wow arena, located at its Rodgers Lake campus, 58620 Sink Road, Dowagiac. Admission starts at 10 a.m. both days. The traditional dance will take place at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. Saturday and at 1 p.m. Sunday. Parking and admission are free. The event will also feature traditional food and artwork.

Oshke-Kno-Kewéwen in the Potawatomi language refers to a new eagle staff, which is much like a national flag. The Pokagon Band veterans constructed two eagle staffs which hold dozens of eagle feathers, each representing a tribal family. The Memorial Day weekend pow wow honors the staffs and the hundreds of Pokagon veterans and past tribal leaders represented on it, said Paige Risser, Director of Communications for the Pokagon Band.

“This is our way of bringing honor to those who have served in the military some way,” Risser said. “It’s a nice tie-in Memorial Day and other tributes to our veterans. This is just a native way of doing that.”

Other Memorial Day events include:

• The Buchanan American Legion will host a Memorial Day Parade starting at 10 a.m. Monday, May 28. The parade will proceed down Front Street, west to Terre Coupe Street out to Oak Ridge Cemetery. In the event of rain, the ceremony will take place at the American Legion Post 51.

• In Edwardsburg, there will be a Hero Haul, a food and item drive for veterans. The event will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, May 28, and is hosted by the Edwardsburg Presbyterian Church. A parade will follow at 11 a.m. and a free festival will take place in Gunn Park, until 2 p.m.

• In Edwardsburg, there will be a Hero Haul, a food and item drive for veterans. The event will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, May 28, and is host by the Edwardsburg Presbyterian Church. A parade will follow at 11 a.m. and a free festival will take place in Gunn Park, until 2 p.m.

• The Niles Memorial Day parade will start at 10 a.m. Monday, May 28. The lineup will begin on State Street and proceed down Main Street and to the historic Silverbrook Cemetery.