Bar Harbor’s 2025 Memorial Day Observance

Everyone is welcome to the Annual Memorial Day Observance in Bar Harbor on Monday, May 26th which will take place at 10 a.m. on the Village Green. The event honors the memory of those who gave their lives in service to our country.

The ceremony will feature a wreath laying, a community invocation led by Reverend Tracy Shaffer from the MDI Episcopal Churches, a poem written by retired fire chief Jai Higgins, which will be read by Matthew Horton and a keynote address by Dr. Dwayne Tomah, a Wabanaki and Passamaquoddy Language and Cultural Knowledge Carrier.

Dr. Tomah is recognized as the youngest fluent speaker of the Passamaquoddy languar and has dedicated his life to the preservation and revitalization of Native language, history and culture. His work includes translating and interpreting the historic 130-year-old was cylinder recordings of Passamaquoddy songs and stories for the Library of Congress, considered some of the earliest known field recordings of Indigenous voices. Through his teaching, Dr. Tomah emphasizes the enduring power of tradition, community and healing.