Onondaga County watchfire eyed for return in 2027 with new committee
The watchfire could return in 2027, but only if organizers lock in a site, 50-plus volunteers and a new funding structure first.
The Central New York Watchfire is being set up for a 2027 comeback, but not as a one-off fix. The Onondaga County Veterans Council has created the CNY Watchfire Committee to keep the Memorial Day tradition alive with a standing volunteer force, a charitable structure and a new site still to be determined.
The timing matters because the watchfire will not be held in 2026. Organizers are trying to turn a tradition that has repeatedly been interrupted into something durable enough to survive the loss of a sponsor, the end of a venue arrangement and the heavy logistics that come with a large Memorial Day event.
The committee’s immediate test is whether it can recruit more than 50 volunteers by September. That is the first sign this is more than nostalgia: the watchfire needs people to handle fundraising, communications, operations, permitting and security before anyone can light a fire or accept a donation of retired flags.
The effort is now being organized through the Onondaga County Veterans Council, which also has a separate role in county veterans philanthropy. The county executive’s Veterans Advisory Board has selected the council to serve as the 501(c)(3) organization distributing funds from the Friends of the Onondaga County War Memorial, giving organizers a path toward the tax-deductible community support they say the watchfire will need.
For veterans groups and longtime Memorial Day observers, that structure may matter as much as the flame itself. The event is rooted in military custom, when a watchfire would be lit after battle or a long march so separated service members could find their comrades. In modern Central New York, it has also become a solemn way to dispose of retired American flags.
Memorial Day, observed on the last Monday in May, is the nation’s foremost annual day to mourn and honor service members who died in military service. The National Cemetery Administration says the holiday was formalized by Grand Army of the Republic Commander-in-Chief John A. Logan in 1868, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs notes that observances often include volunteers placing American flags on graves.
The watchfire has already shown how deeply it resonates here. It was canceled from 2020 through 2022, then returned in 2023, when organizers collected more than 1,000 donated retired flags and said thousands were burned. Thousands also attended the event at the New York State Fairgrounds in 2024. But a 2025 cancellation followed after efforts to find a new sponsor fell short.
That history is why the 2027 plan is being treated as a test, not a promise. If the committee secures volunteers, donations, a venue and the legal structure to sustain the work, Central New York may restore one of its most distinctive Memorial Day rituals.
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