Remembrance Day ceremony won't be at the Kitchener cenotaph this year
Jackie Sharkey | CBC News | Posted: November 1, 2016 5:09 PM | Last Updated: November 10, 2016
For the first time in more than a decade, Kitchener's Remembrance Day ceremony won't be held at the cenotaph at Duke and Frederick streets.
Instead, it's moving to city hall, and will be held in Carl Zehr Square.
A city news release said the change was to "ensure that there is enough room to accommodate [everyone] ... while construction continues on the streets surrounding the cenotaph."
The ceremony will start at the Victoria Park clock tower and the parade will march to Carl Zehr Square at 10:30 a.m. A special drumhead service will be performed at approximately 10:45 a.m.
Special drumhead service
According to information provided by Royal Canadian Legion Branch 50, a special drumhead service is "usually conducted in a battlefield when no building or altar is available.
"For centuries, armies have marched into battle to the beat of drums and gathered around the banner of their leaders," wrote Dan McVey on the branch's website.
"For centuries, men have gathered around these symbols to pray to their god in the battlefields of the world."
Drums will be stacked by the Waterloo Regional Police band, and five flags will be draped over to make a representative cenotaph. Those flags will be the Branch Banner, and NATO, U.N., Union Jack and Canadian flags.