Scouts from Pack 1 Manville hoist the Stars and Stripes on the troop’s float, dubbed ‘Courage Forged by Freedom,’ in Lincoln’s Memorial Day Parade Monday.  Scouts are, front row from left, Max Thompkins, 9, and Jacob Mazur, 7; back row, Jack Hoyle, 10, and Michael Hurder, 9.   Times photo/Ernest A. Brown

By RUSS OLIVO

LINCOLN  — At Joe Figueira’s house, it’s a rite of spring: you get up early, eat breakfast and load up the kids in the family vehicle to claim your spot on Smithfield Avenue.

And so, after noshing on a muffin and a Diet Coke, there he was, Figueira and wife, Cheryl, their legs dangling off the back of a green pickup, backed in behind Antonio’s Café, prime turf to take in the colorful sights and sounds of the annual Memorial Day Parade.
A few feet away, their son, Brandon, and his cousins, Taylor and Seth Girouard, squatted on the curb, occasionally scrambling for Tootsie-Rolls, Smarties, lollipops and other candy tossed to the roadside like confetti from a passing phalanx of fire trucks, sirens blaring.
“It’s nice to be able to come out to something enjoyable for a change, especially with all the bad things going on,” said Cheryl Figueira. “It’s a tradition. It’s something we’ve been doing for a long time.”
The Figueiras, of Pawtucket, were far from alone. They were among some 10,000 spectators who thronged the sidewalks of Smithfield Avenue, from Reservoir Avenue, at the Pawtucket line, for more than a mile north to the Saylesville Fire Station.
Amid a carnival atmosphere heightened by the presence of street vendors hawking balloons, cotton candy and American flags, it took the five-division parade nearly an hour to pass, filling the thoroughfare with the sounds of marching bands, bagpipers and piped-in music from PA systems aboard patriotic-themed floats.
While their children scooped up candy from the street, stuffing the booty into bulging Baggies, the elder Figueiras enjoyed scanning the crowd for familiar faces. It might be the only time all year when they get a chance to mingle with seldom-seen acquaintances and old friends, and that’s another thing Cheryl Figueira likes about the parade.
“It’s a good parade,” says Master Clown Roger Lapire of Johnston, part of a clown contingent that marched with the Cranston Shriners. “There’s always fantastic crowds.”
Dressed like a comic Keystone Cop, Lapire travels with fellow clowns Moofus and Bumbles to many parades throughout the year, but he says the spirit of the town’s Memorial Day Parade runs deep.
While yesterday was sun-dappled and breezy, the rain-or-shine event draws big crowds even when the weather is off. Two years ago, the parade was soaked with rain, recalled Lapire, but Smithfield Avenue was just as sardine-packed as it usually is on the last Monday in May.
And many, like Kathy Hamel of Pawtucket, don’t come just for the fun and candy. For Hamel, sitting in her folding chair on Smithfield Avenue, it’s more like a civic duty.
“What it means to me is all the men fighting for our country and all the freedoms we have today,” said Hamel. “This is the way to honor them.”
Grand Marshal Lawrence Goucher couldn’t agree more. Goucher served in the First 9th Air Cavalry in Vietnam — the same unit, he explains, portrayed in the helicopter scenes featuring actor Robert Duvall in the Vietnam War-movie “Apocalypse Now.” Wearing the original olive-green fatigue jacket from his term of service, Goucher said it was an honor to play a part in the parade to remind others of the sacrifice veterans have made for their country.
Goucher said he was surprised when he learned his buddies at the local American Legion Post had named him grand marshal, earning him a seat in a shiny red convertible at the head of the procession. But he would have been there anyway, hoofing it.
“I was going to walk it,” Goucher said. “I think every veteran should be at the parade. This is a parade to tell every veteran we care about each other.”
A gunner who was twice shot down from his Huey chopper during the war, Goucher earned numerous medals for his heroic service, but his low-key manner about the past has won him the admiration and respect of his friends.
Doug Fregeolle of Johnston, who has known Goucher for 40 years, says he was surprised to learn his pal was a recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross and other medals when he read a newspaper story recently about his appointment as grand marshal.
“That’s why I’m here,” Fregeolle said. “Because of him.”
The parade began at 11 a.m. with a procession of fire trucks, including the Lime Rock Fire District’s restored vintage pumper.
Soon to follow were the Lincoln High School Marching Band; a cadre of kilt-clad bagpipers from the Rhode Island Professional Drum and Pipes Corps; Boy Scouts; Little Leaguers; Tony the Dancing Cop; a bevy of greyhounds from the Twin River Greyhound Adoption Program; and an host of government figures, including Attorney General Patrick Lynch, Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts, Town Administrator T. Joseph Almond and Adjutant Gen. Robert Bray of the Rhode Island National Guard.
As usual, the parade featured an assortment of floats operated by local businesses, clubs and other organizations. After the parade, the Cub and Boy Scouts of Pack One of Manville was honored with the annual William Horlbogen Memorial Day Parade trophy for creating the float that best exemplified the theme of the parade, “Treasure Our Freedom.”
Horlbogen, a World War II veteran who had been deeply committed to the parade, became its honorary namesake when he died several years ago, according to Sale.
Hot dogs were donated by Twin River, one of many private benefactors whose donations make the parade possible every year, according to Sale.