There will be no Remembrance Day parade in Belleville this year.

Belleville Veterans Council chairman Skip Solomon and parade sergeant Larry Shoebridge said the usual march from the Belleville Armouries to Memorial Park on Station Street has been cancelled in favour of assembling the colour party and veterans at the park’s cenotaph.

“It’s just a sign of the times,” said Shoebridge, a member of the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment Association.

“The majority of the people are already at the cenotaph and there’s very few people on the parade route. We’re parading up an empty street, in some cases,” he said, explaining most spectators go directly to the park.

“The other communities don’t have these marching ceremonies,” he added.

Shoebridge said it’s also becoming difficult to find people to march in the colour party – the flag bearers leading the parade. Two past members, Sandy Tosh and John Sherry, have died recently.

Solomon said the parade’s cancellation is also due to a desire to spare veterans from the 1.5-km uphill march to the park and the return trip.

“It’s in deference to them. It’s a bit of a hike,” said Solomon.

He said the service will otherwise unfold in a format similar to that of past years.

The service will begin at about 10:45, with a moment of silence at 11 a.m. sharp, marking 100 years since the signing of the armistice that ended the First World War.

Solomon will make the opening address before various clergy address the crowd. The laying of wreaths will follow.

The service should last no more than about 40 minutes, Solomon said.

One special addition to remembrance in Belleville will be provided by bagpiper Peter D. Smith, a city resident.

He’ll perform at the cenotaph at 6 a.m. as part of a coordinated global effort to commemorate the end of the First World War.

Smith said his grandfather and his step-grandfather were killed in the First World War; an uncle died in the Second World War. His father also built a military runway in Goose Bay, Labrador.

He said he’ll be playing “out of respect for them.”

Smith is a member of the Napanee and District Caledonian Pipe Band and will perform during that town’s remembrance service.

The international effort is called Battle’s Over and is organized by U.K. pageantmaster Bruno Peek. It includes events in Europe, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, and the United States.

“The centenary of the end of the Great War is an opportunity to acknowledge the enormous sacrifice made the millions of men and women who died or were wounded, as well as those who worked tirelessly at home in our fields and factories,” Peek said in a news release.

Lone pipers will play a Scottish air, Battle’s O’er, played traditionally after a battle. Some will perform outside cathedrals; more than 1,000 pipers will be playing, a release from the campaign explained.

Buglers are also planning to play Last Post at 6:55 p.m., with beacons to be lit to signify the peace which followed the war. No information on this segment occurring locally was available Monday.

Belleville churches will, however, sound their bells 100 times at five-second interviews at sundown. Though it’s being called Bells of Peace locally, it coincides with similar events internationally. In some places, town criers will perform the specially-written Cry for Peace Around the World.

Following Belleville’s service, there will be receptions at both Royal Canadian Legion Branch 99 on Pinnacle Street north of Dundas Street East and in the hall of the Army, Navy and Air Force Veterans in Canada on Front Street just south of Bridge Street.

And at the armouries – at Bridge Street East and Pinnacle – the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment Museum will be open Tuesday, Nov. 6 from 1 to 4 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 11 from noon to 4 p.m.

Museum volunteers have also partnered with the Hastings County Historical Society and the Community Archives of Belleville and Hastings County in a small exhibit of photos and stories of locals who served overseas. It’s set up in the armouries and just outside the museum doors.

Even when the museum is closed, the exhibit will be open to the public between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. weekdays this week and during Sunday’s museum hours, museum volunteer Neil Burrell said.

“The museum has been taking steps to step out into the community,” said Burrell a veteran of service in Afghanistan.

“The community is the regiment.”

More outreach events are planned, he said.

lhendry@postmedia.com