1. The Avon Memorial Day Parade begins at 9 a.m. on Monday at the Avon Senior Center and continues east on Detroit to the Avon Cemetery on Detroit and SR 83 with around 20 units marching. Lineup begins at 8 a.m. Past and present veterans will be asked to stand for acknowledgement and a ceremony will be held at the veteran’s memorial at the cemetery. Veteran pastor Paul Hendricks will give the opening prayer with comments from Mayor Jim Smith to follow.

2. Avon Lake will also hold its annual Memorial Day ceremonies and parade with events beginning 8 a.m. The day opens with a Post 211 Memorial Service on the back patio (on Walker Road). Memorial services will also be held at the Lakeshore (Avon Lake) Cemetery at 9 a.m. and will include a tossing of the Memorial Wreath into Lake Erie. The parade begins at 10 a.m. and will start in the North Drive of Avon Lake High School and end at Veterans Memorial Park on Lake Road. There will also be a ceremony held at Folger Home beginning at 10:45 a.m.

3. The Ellen Trivanovich Aquatic Center will open this Memorial Day weekend. Avon Lake residents can do some laps, spring off the high board, twist and turn down the big blue slide, or just take a cool and refreshing dip between 1-7 p.m. on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Weather permitting, the pool, located in Bleser Park, will remain open during the week from 4-8 p.m. from May 29-June 1.

4. Great Northern PetSmart, with help from Love-A Stray, will have cat and kitten adoptions today at 10:30 a.m. at 26063 Great Northern Shop Center, North Olmsted.  Love-A-Stray volunteers will be ready to help with the adoption process right then and there if you so choose. All cats and kittens are spayed/neutered, current on vaccines, have been dewormed and had flea protection.

5. Avon Garden Club will be holding the Memorial Day Plant Sale on Monday beginning at 8 a.m. The sale will have perennials, flowering shrubs, herbs, groundcover and ornamental grasses grown in members' gardens. There’s no admission charge.

6. Avon-on-the-Lake Garden Club's Annual Plant Sale which is on Memorial Day, May 28. It is held at the United Church of Christ on Electric Boulevard from 8 .a.m to noon. All home grown perennials, ferns, grasses, house plants and lots more are provided by our members. Free admission.

Bonus: For those who might want to venture outside of the area for some Memorial Day Weekend fun, there’s always the local tradition of the 21^st Annual Great American Rib Cook-Off & Music Festival that began Friday and runs through the holiday weekend. The event is located at Jacobs Pavilion and the Nautica Complex.  Musical acts include Todd Rundgren (Saturday), Staind (Sunday), The Wailers (Monday) and Michael Stanley and the Resonators (Monday). Tickets are $8. For more information, call 216-622-6557.