The annual event, which started in 1999, last was celebrated on its 20-year anniversary in 2019. Festivities were shelved in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but has returned for this year.

Pancakes will be served 8-10 a.m. Saturday at the McLouth Fires Station with the McLouth United Methodist Church sponsoring the breakfast.

In addition, there will be various vendors and for youths, a petting zoo and pony rides.

Military memorabilia, meanwhile, will be displayed in the “Old Drug Store.”

The children’s parade begins at 11 a.m. at the north edge of town. Participants can line up at City Hall at 10:30 a.m. for that parade. The cub mobile races will follow the children’s parade.

Starting at 11 a.m., the McLouth Kiwanis Club will start serving lunch at the fire station.

In the afternoon, the main parade will be a big attraction. Participants will start gathering at noon near Stan Braksick Sports Complex.

The main parade begins at 1 p.m., with participants gathering near Stan Braksick Sports Complex at noon.

All veterans are invited to participate in the parade and are welcome to ride on the Veterans’ Trolly. Veterans wanting to ride on the trolly should meet in the FreeState Electric Cooperative parking lot by 12:30 p.m.

Following the parade there will be a weapons demonstration by individuals associated with the World War II History Center.

Patriots Day is sponsored by the city of McLouth, McLouth Recreation Commission, Jefferson County Fire District No. 9 and McLouth Kiwanis Club.

Patriots Day officially is the third Monday in April each year and commemorates early battles in the American Revolutionary War. The holiday, which is a state holiday in Maine, Massachusetts and Wisconsin, originally was to be known as Lexington Day or Concord Day to honor some of those early battles, but it also was discussed at the time that the bigger battle of Menotomy, now known as Arlington, would not be included in the celebration. As a compromise, the holiday was called Patriots Day to encompass all key battles in that region.