ALBANY — The main coordinator for the city’s Memorial Day parade has quit following a change in the parade’s route — a change that, officials say, was necessary to ensure public safety.
The 2025 Memorial Day Parade will honor two local New York Army National Guardsmen as grand marshals of the parade. Chief Warrant Officer 2 Casey Frankoski and Chief Warrant Officer 2 John Michael Grassia III were killed in a helicopter crash last March. Their parents will host in their stead.
But Dave Erickson, who has served as parade adjutant for the last decade, will no longer be coordinating the parade on Monday, May 26. The retired U.S. Army veteran and Albany High School junior ROTC instructor said he’d already sent out information about the parade — including where marchers would step off — on April 29. Later that day, an Albany police officer called him about shortening the parade route, he said, citing safety issues…