Brancati to lead Golden’s Bridge FD Memorial Day parade

GOLDENS BRIDGE, N.Y. - Edward Brancati, a U.S. Army veteran and chairman of the Board of Fire Commissioners of the Golden’s Bridge Fire District, has been named grand marshal of the Golden’s Bridge Fire Department’s 2026 Memorial Day Parade.

A longtime resident of Golden’s Bridge, where he and his late wife, Susan, raised their three children, Brancati will lead the parade when it steps off on Memorial Day, May 25, at 9:15 a.m. from Bradys Farm Road and proceeds to the Golden’s Bridge Firehouse. An emotion-filled ceremony will immediately follow on the firehouse grounds, featuring speakers from the Town of Lewisboro Veterans Advisory Committee and the placement of ceremonial wreaths at the American Legion Monument outside the firehouse entrance. Breakfast refreshments will be served following the event.

All veterans, residents and local organizations are invited to march in the parade and attend the ceremony, which organizers say serves as an opportunity for the community to come together in gratitude and remembrance of those who gave their lives in service to the country.

“Honoring Edward Brancati has been a long time coming — first and foremost for his service to our country, but also for his service to our community. He has been a steady and guiding hand of the Golden’s Bridge Fire District for three decades,” said Joe Simoncini, chair of the department’s Memorial Day Parade and Ceremony Committee and a fellow fire commissioner. “He was the committee’s unanimous choice for parade grand marshal.”

Those wishing to participate in the parade should gather by 9 a.m. on Bradys Farm Road, just east of the firehouse. Children are encouraged to decorate their bicycles, scooters and wagons in patriotic fashion and ride them in the parade, which will turn onto Route 138 from Bradys Farm Road and proceed west to the firehouse.

The parade will feature the Golden’s Bridge Fire Department Color Guard, firefighters in dress uniform and the grand marshal riding in the fire chief’s vehicle, followed by families and community participants, local Scouts, elected officials, the Lewisboro Volunteer Ambulance Corps and the GBFD fleet.

Several local residents will play prominent roles in this year’s ceremony. Golden’s Bridge resident and soprano Heather Mieko Lackey will sing the National Anthem. Lackey has performed in national tours, regional theater productions and off-Broadway musicals, and currently serves as chief of staff to New York State Assemblyman Chris Burdick. Tom Gossett, of Gossett Brothers Nursery in South Salem, will perform taps. John Lemke, chair of the Lewisboro Veterans Advisory Committee, and committee member Mark Vibert will also participate in the ceremony.

Among the traditional observances, the American flag will be raised and lowered to half-staff during the two-minute tolling of the firehouse bell. One of the ceremony’s most solemn moments will come when three GBFD officers recite the names of the 76 Golden’s Bridge residents — including three Gold Star veterans — who served in World War I and World War II and whose names are engraved on the bronze plaques affixed to the four-ton granite American Legion Monument. The ceremony will conclude with the placement of ceremonial wreaths on either side of the monument.

Brancati, who humbly accepted the grand marshal designation, enlisted in the U.S. Army after graduating from Middlebury College in Vermont with a bachelor’s degree in political science. While at Middlebury, he played football and participated in the school’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program.

After reporting to Fort Benning, Georgia, on Dec. 7, 1969, Brancati served as an infantry lieutenant for nearly three years at Kelley Barracks in Stuttgart, Germany, as a member of the 16th Aviation Battalion of the VII Corps. Following his honorable discharge, he spent more than 35 years working in Westchester County government. He has also served as a volunteer fire commissioner with the Golden’s Bridge Fire District for 30 years, including the past 20 years as chairman of the board.

Breakfast refreshments will be served following the ceremony. For more information, contact the GBFD community liaison at pub3634@gmail.com or call/text 914-403-4072.