Lewisburg parade to honor veterans with C-47 flyover, train rides

Lewisburg’s veterans parade is set to become more than a procession this year. On June 27, the Union County Veterans’ Fourth of July Celebration will pair a 10 a.m. parade with a C-47 flyover and afternoon train rides, building a full-day event designed to honor more than 100 veterans while drawing families, visitors and downtown traffic into the borough.

Organizers say more than 250 parade entries are expected, along with marching bands and first responders. The parade will begin at 8th and Market streets, move through downtown on 3rd Street and finish at University Ave. and St. George Street. That route should put the heaviest crowds along the downtown core, especially near the start and end points where parade watchers can gather before the line of march reaches the center of Lewisburg.

The day will open with a flyover by the C-47 Luck of the Irish, a World War II combat veteran aircraft that organizers are using to frame the celebration around military service and local remembrance. The combination of the flyover, the parade and the scale of the turnout gives the event a larger public footprint than a typical small-town holiday march, and it should keep foot traffic moving through the business district well before the afternoon.

North Shore Railroad will add another layer of activity with two patriotic train rides at 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Boarding will take place in Hufnagle Park in Lewisburg, and the excursions will run to Winfield and back on a roughly hour-long trip. The railroad says the rides will use veteran-themed railcars and a newly designed America 250 PA train, pulled by its Veterans Unit locomotive. Tickets are $25, and half of the proceeds will go back to support the celebration.

The railroad’s Union County Industrial Railroad affiliate is hosting the rides, which follow a tradition that dates back at least a decade. A 2014 report noted that train rides in Lewisburg were being brought back for a third year in conjunction with the veterans celebration, and this year’s version ties the excursion to the broader America250 effort.

The Union County Veterans’ 4th of July Celebration describes itself as a nonprofit that honors veterans and community organizations throughout the Susquehanna Valley, with its fireworks show and gala parade held annually in Lewisburg on the last weekend in June. This year, the parade is part of a wider countywide America250 push that also includes a patriotic decorating contest, a Union County photo contest, special Happy 250th, America! shirts and RiverStage Community Theatre’s production of 1776: The Musical. For downtown Lewisburg businesses, the mix of parade crowds, rail passengers and holiday visitors could turn a standard civic observance into a significant day of local spending.