Veterans from across Steamboat Springs arrived for Monday’s Memorial Day Ceremony at Steamboat Springs Cemetery more than an hour before the first buses bought community members to the location.

It’s an annual event for this dedicated, and proud, group of men and women who used the time to run through the program to work out any kinks prior to the start of the event.

For this group doing it the right way is the best way to honor the service members who gave their life for our county, and to honor all the veterans buried in the Steamboat Springs Cemetery. By the time the crowd gathered, and more than a few had taken seats in the lawn chairs they brought with them, the program was ready and the time to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice had arrived.

“It’s important in terms of what this country stands for,” said John Taylor, who came to watch the event. “It commemorates those that are not with us, those that stood up for the things that are important to all of us.”

Taylor, who served in the Army from 1960 to 1963, had lived in Summit County for 34 years and recently moved to Steamboat where he is a resident of Casey’s Pond. He said the Steamboat Springs ceremony is something Steamboat Springs should celebrate, and should make our town proud.

He was one of several veterans mixed among a crowd of more than 200 people who showed up at the Stockbridge Transit Center to board buses, and make the short trip to the ceremony sight on Monday morning. The 45-minute ceremony included opening remarks, the lowering of the flag and a 21-gun salute as a tribute to those buried in the cemetery.

A wreath was placed on the Veteran’s Memorial and a speaker read the names of two service members from World War I and two from World War II that died while in service. Scouts and members of the Civil Air Patrol placed flags in a container at the set on the bricks of the memorial to honor those four service members who represent a much larger group.

This is great and much larger than the one that we had in Summit,” Taylor said. “Every community needs to do things like this — it’s so important.”