By Michael Cleveland

MILFORD - Some people wear their hearts on their sleeve. Melissa Dougherty was wearing her hometown on her chest.

Carrying 1-year-old daughter, Addison, as she walked on the Milford Oval at the beginning of the annual Labor Day parade on Monday, Dougherty was easily identified as a Milford resident.

Her T-shirt read: 03055.

Milford's zip code.

And when she was asked why, she was suddenly wearing a big smile.
"I'm from Milford. It's the town I live in, and I thought it was fitting for the parade today," she said.

Dougherty grew up in Milford and graduated from Milford Area Senior High School in 1991, so she's seen quite a few Labor Day parades.

"I've been coming to the parade since I was old enough to walk, even back when they used to have the carnival down at Shepard's Park," she recalled.   

In those days, the parade came down Nashua Street and into the Oval before crossing what was for years known as the Stone Bridge but eventually named for Col. John Shepard. Today, and for the past few years, the parade began at Milford High School - Melissa Dougherty's alma mater - and came down West Street to Elm before entering the Oval.

For Dougherty, the ties to Milford are more than just MASH - where, as Melissa Drouin, she played forward on the girls basketball team.    ….continue reading