The annual Wreaths Across America escort is scheduled to depart Harrington this Sunday and travel through southern Maine on its way to Arlington National Cemetery. 

For 16 years, Morrill Worcester, president of Worcester Wreath Company in Harrington, has decorated graves at Arlington with wreaths made by volunteers. The project was known locally as the Arlington Wreath Project until 2006, when the project was taken to the national level and called Wreaths Across America.

The wreaths will be escorted to Virginia by riders from the Patriot Guard. A ceremony to honor veterans and veterans groups is scheduled from 6 to 9 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 7, at the Portland Expo. The ceremony will include appearances by John Jenkins, the Don Campbell Band and the 195^th Army Band.

The escort will spend the night at the Best Western in South Portland before departing at 8 a.m. Monday, Dec. 8,  and arriving at the Scarborough Veterans Home at 8:15 a.m. 

A ceremony is scheduled to take place around 9:30 a.m. on Jameson Hill Road in Old Orchard Beach. Students from Jameson Elementary and Loranger Middle schools will line the street and hold handmade symbols of welcome and patriotism.

The escort is scheduled to make additional stops for short ceremonies at Wells Junior High School at 10:30 a.m. and Kittery Trading Post at 11:45 a.m. Wreaths are scheduled to be placed at Arlington National Cemetery on Dec. 13.

The Wreaths Across America program will continue Saturday, Dec. 13, with a simultaneous wreath-laying ceremony at more than 286 locations across the world. A ceremony is scheduled for noon that day at South Buxton Cemetery at Tory Hill Corner, at the intersection of Routes 112 and 202. 

For more information about the escort and ceremonies, call John O’Leary at 514-5386 or visit www.wreathsacrossamerica.org.