• Tisbury school children sang the national anthem out loud for the audience.
  • Baritone horn playing band member Colby Vought and his family enjoyed time at Owen Park after the event was over.
  • Students throwing flowers into the harbor. —Eunki Seonwoo
  • Tisbury students walking down Spring Street. —Eunki Seonwoo
  • Tisbury students kicking off the March to the Sea. —Eunki Seonwoo

Tisbury School students marched to the sea carrying brightly-hued flowers to be thrown into the harbor from Owen Park in a longtime Island tradition to honor those who gave their lives for the country.

Around 300 Tisbury students walked down Spring Street and into Main Street on Friday for the annual March to the Sea, a custom to honor fallen service members ahead of Memorial Day. Rows of students merrily walked down Tisbury streets, led by eighth graders holding a banner with the school’s name. The Tisbury School band drummed as they traversed the streets, and some of the young students wore cylindrical star-spangled paper hats with a Tisbury Police escort. Residents met them on their march, waving small American flags and smiles.

Elementary schools across the Island honored service members in different ways on Friday. Students in Chilmark, Edgartown, and Oak Bluffs held their own marches to the sea, while West Tisbury School held a Memorial Day concert in the afternoon. 

At the newly-built Owen Park pier, students threw their flowers into the harbor one at a time while a somber hush fell over the crowd. Each flower represents a service member a family lost. 

Following the playing of Taps, performed by students Isaac Rendon and Buddy Noonan, and the national anthem, sung by student Samuael Martins, George Pimentel, Dukes County veterans affairs officer and a “proud Army veteran,” took to the stage. 

Pimentel highlighted the various ways veterans served the country, like New England sailors during the American Revolution to the deserts in Afghanistan. And for a small community, Pimentel said, every loss is magnified, and “the whole Island feels it.”

“Everyone knows each other, more or less,” Pimentel said. “That smallness … is what makes military sacrifice very real.” 

Tisbury School Principal John Custer, who participated in the March to the Sea when he was a Tisbury student, highlighted that veterans not only served the country but also supported the school, such as the American Legion allowing students to use its building when there were facility issues at the school. 

He also said that it was important to teach students about the sacrifice of veterans. He recalled a student who recently learned of four family members who served in the military. 

“They may seem small, but they’re pretty significant for that child, and their family to recognize and take a moment to reflect,” Custer said.