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Fairfax County communities marked Memorial Day weekend with solemn ceremonies, patriotic music, wreath presentations and public gatherings honoring those who died while serving in the U.S. military.

From a major charity festival in Vienna to cemetery observances in Herndon and Great Falls, each community commemorated the holiday in its own way.

Vienna Festival Draws Thousands

Viva! Vienna! combined Memorial Day remembrance with three days of carnival attractions, live entertainment, food vendors and a Brewfest Beer Garden. The festival included 24 rides suitable for visitors ages 2 and older.

The Rotary Club of Vienna organized the event, which attracted at least 60,000 people over the weekend, according to Rotary representative Gunnar Spafford. He said chilly weather and delayed pool openings may have helped boost carnival attendance.

Spafford said the festival raised $249,000 for charity the previous year. Of the proceeds, $40,000 is reserved to launch the next festival and $1,000 is kept as a rainy-day fund, with the remainder distributed to charitable organizations.

The weekend concluded with a Memorial Day tribute on the Vienna Town Green on Monday, May 26.

Herndon Riders and Veterans Pay Tribute

More than 70 motorcyclists gathered early Saturday at Jimmy’s Old Town Tavern in Herndon for the annual Rolling to Remember ride.

Tavern owner Jimmy Cirrito led the group through Herndon as Mayor Keven LeBlanc waved the riders off. They continued to Great Falls, traveled along the George Washington Parkway and finished at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Herndon’s formal Memorial Day observance was held at Chestnut Grove Cemetery and organized by American Legion Wayne M. Kidwell Post 184 and the Town of Herndon.

Guest speaker Chief Master Sergeant Brett W. Hamilton reflected on service members killed in conflicts ranging from World War I and Vietnam to the Persian Gulf and Afghanistan.

“Today, we honor the fallen,” Hamilton said. “We remember their names, their faces, and their stories.”

Hamilton, the Air Force’s career field manager and chief for accession policy, said members of the military community carry a special responsibility to preserve the legacy of those who died.

Members of Post 184 also created an Avenue of Flags at the cemetery. Veterans and volunteers worked in two-person teams to raise more than 60 casket flags donated by the families of veterans buried there. The flags lined the cemetery entrance.

Post members Michael Cutler and Robert Thompson also wore red poppies in support of the American Legion Auxiliary’s annual Poppy Fundraiser. The flowers symbolize remembrance of those killed in war.

Patriotic Music Fills Reston Town Center

The Reston Chorale presented “A Star-Spangled Salute” on Sunday, May 25, at the Reston Town Center Pavilion.

The concert, presented with the Brass Band of Northern Virginia, featured patriotic music honoring those who died in military service. Reston Town Center and the Reston Town Center Association presented the performance.

Air Force veteran Ann Kuo was among those who saluted during the national anthem.

Great Falls Remembers War Dead and 9/11 Victims

A crowd gathered at the Great Falls Freedom Memorial at 11 a.m. Monday, May 26, to remember military personnel who died serving the country. The ceremony also honored Great Falls residents killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Keynote speaker Robert “Bob” Wallace, a Vietnam veteran who served with a Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol unit and later spent 33 years with the Central Intelligence Agency, explained why civilians killed in attacks against the United States also have a place in the community’s remembrance.

Wallace traced Memorial Day’s origins through his own family history. His great-grandfather survived the Civil War, and a grave marker identifying his service with Company D of the 34th Iowa Regiment gave Wallace a personal connection to the conflict that inspired the observance.

Originally known as Decoration Day, the commemoration began in Waterloo, New York, in 1866 and spread across 37 states, Wallace said. After World War I, its scope expanded to recognize those killed in all American wars. Congress established Memorial Day as a national holiday in 1968.

Wallace said joining the military is often an intense first step into independent adulthood. Taking the Oath of Office or Oath of Enlistment brings both a new sense of responsibility and an awareness that combat may follow.

The Great Falls Freedom Memorial commemorates 25 former community residents, including six men and women who died in conflicts involving international terrorism. During the ceremony, their names were read and the Freedom Bell sounded in their memory.

“Those who died, although having no intent of war, are as much casualties of war as the soldiers subsequently called to duty,” Wallace said.