Here's what's open and closed for today's holiday.
Today we observe Veterans Day, a national holiday established in 1926 to honor men and women who have served in the military. Here's a quick round-up of what's open and closed in Barnstable today. If you know of more businesses that are open or closed, help out your fellow neighbors by leaving them in the comments.
The Hyannis Veterans Day Parade went off without a hitch Sunday morning down South Street, along Main Street and onto the village green in front of about 200 spectators.
The musket fire pierced the brisk, November air of Hyannis like an awakening clap of thunder. A perfectly rendered version of the Marine Corps Hymn by the Barnstable High School Marching Band measured the cadence of marching feet. The Star Spangled Banner... The Pledge of Allegiance... and the humbling words of Rear Admiral Rabbi Harold L. Robinson of the Cape Cod Synagogue in Hyannis reminded about 200 spectators and veterans of the price of freedom. And a collective "Amen" at the close of his convocation prayer seemed to unify all those in attendance on the Hyannis Village Green Sunday morning as local officials, politicians, dignitaries and veterans joined together to lay wreaths to honor our fallen heroes as well as our living ones. …
The names of soldiers adorn countless plaques between Cape Cod and the battlefields of Gettysburg to the Alamo, but on the Hyannis Village Green this morning a granite block depicting Kevin Houston's service was unveiled.
In the 1990 film Navy Seals, a pilot thanks a Navy Seal for saving his life. The Navy Seal responds, "There's no reason to thank us because we don't exist. You never saw us. This never happened." But in the Town of Barnstable, there can be no denial that its late hometown hero, US Navy CPO Kevin Houston did exist - he existed for a purpose and his purpose was carried forth with dignity and honor. Houston's name and likeness shall forever be imbued in the hearts and souls of the very place he once called home, his memory perpetually recognized as one to be cherished and held in the highest regard. Friday morning at the culmination of Veterans Day services following the annual parade and ceremonies on the Hyannis Village Green, a massive …
Barnstable dignitaries, veterans' organization officials, town officials and hundreds of residents gathered Friday morning (Nov. 11) to memorialize those whose service is worthy of being honored.
The November skies may have been a mottled shade of gray, but old glory's red, white and blue beamed brightly in the foreground, snapping briskly in the late autumn, ocean breeze. "The sign says 'The Home of the Free, Because of the Brave'," said Barnstable Town Council President Fred Chirigotis, and added "Freedom isn't free." No two phrases uttered this morning on the Hyannis Village Green could have depicted better the chief purpose in townsfolk coming together to memorialize those who have served and those who still serve the country. Nor could such statements have better characterized the service of dozens, if not hundreds, of Cape Cod veterans who were on hand to represent service during World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam, …
