OBSERVER Photo by M.J. Stafford Dunkirk High School will again hold its commencement at Karl Hoeppner Field. Pictured is a fence around the field honoring the graduating seniors.

Dunkirk High School has finalized its plan for this year’s commencement exercises.

The event will be held at Karl Hoeppner Field on Saturday, June 26, at 11 a.m. Spectators are asked to park in either the student parking lot, located across from the field on Sixth street, or the lot located next to the school district’s administrative office on Marauder Drive.

A ticket will be required for admission. Each student will again be limited to two spectators each — a restriction that occurred at the 2020 commencement and is left over from state-mandated social distancing. The mandates were mostly lifted this week, but the school district doesn’t have enough time to change plans to accommodate unlimited spectators.

However, unlike last year, students will graduate in one group, rather than two.

The graduates will also participate in the traditional courtyard procession and bell ringing ceremony that will begin at Dunkirk High School at 10:45 a.m.

This is the second straight year Dunkirk High School will hold its commencement at Karl Hoeppner Field. The school used to hold the exercises at SUNY Fredonia’s King Concert Hall, but the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic led to the move in the interests of social distancing.