The flaunting of Confederate flags in a small Cecil County town’s holiday parade over the weekend has riled up community members and left some wondering how they were permitted to participate.

A group of mostly white men rode on Confederate-flag-draped floats and distributed miniature versions of the symbol to some North East Christmas parade attendees, including children, on Saturday, according to photos shared online.

The images circulating across social media caught the attention of Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman, who is also chair of the Maryland Democratic Party.

Pittman, a descendant of slave owners who led his county’s recent public apology for its role in slavery, called the display and distribution of the Confederate flag at the holiday event “inexcusable.”

“These relics are nothing more than that — a reminder of a dark, racist period in our country’s history,” Pittman said in a statement. “These symbols shouldn’t be paraded around, they should be cast aside and their cause should be lost.”

Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 2013 of Havre de Grace and Mason-Dixon Guards Camp 2183 of Kent County, Delaware, participated in the North East Christmas parade, touting a litany of flags on their floats, including those of the Confederate army. Both groups are local chapters of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, a nonprofit hereditary organization for male descendants of those who fought for the Confederate army in the Civil War.

According to the Sons of Confederate Veterans’ website, the group was founded in 1906 when a former Confederate lieutenant general, Stephen D. Lee, charged, “To you, Sons of Confederate Veterans, we will commit the vindication of the cause for which we fought.” Neither of the local groups could immediately be reached for comment Monday.

The controversy comes as President Donald Trump’s administration has rolled back diversity and equity efforts at government agencies and played down the focus on slavery and racial injustice at federal parks and museums. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth drew criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike for his attempts to restore Confederate base names.

One photo shared online of the North East parade showed a young boy dressed in a Cub Scout uniform with one of the Confederate flags at his feet. In a statement shared on Facebook, leaders of Cub Scout Pack 143 in Port Deposit apologized for the image and said they had nothing to do with the floats. The Cub Scouts are a youth organization that works with children from kindergarten through fifth grade on character development, leadership training and ethical decision-making.

“To associate the Scout uniform with a symbol of division and oppression is a failure of our mission. This incident provides us with an opportunity — and a responsibility — to educate our Scouts,” Pack 143 representatives said in the statement. “We will be speaking with the Pack about the importance of awareness, respect, and understanding the significance of the symbols we encounter.”

Cecil Solidarity, a racial and social justice group, also denounced the display of the Confederate flag at the town’s parade, but argued this is part of a recurring issue encouraged by a lack of scrutiny.

“Such imagery has no place in any event meant to bring the community together. What occurred at this parade reflects an ongoing pattern in which harmful symbols are allowed to appear in civic spaces without meaningful scrutiny,” representatives for the group wrote on Facebook.

Cecil Solidarity urged organizers to publicly acknowledge what happened and conduct a full review of their approval and oversight process.

Christine Thompson, the president of Cecil Solidarity, said the incident was disappointing, disheartening and disgusting. As someone born and raised in Cecil County, she recalls watching the Ku Klux Klan walk in the North East Christmas parade as a child in the early 1990s.

When Thompson got home, her father answered her burning questions about who the hooded men were. She didn’t return to the parade until the late 2010s when her daughter’s softball team participated in it.

Even then, Thompson described the environment as unwelcoming and uncomfortable. Aside from her oldest daughter marching in it once, Thompson said she doesn’t allow any of her three children to attend the North East Christmas parade or the Cecil County Fair.

Still, exclusionary behavior such as displaying Confederate flags, Thompson said, should be called out, condemned and corrected.

“I don’t care what’s going on in D.C. We have an opportunity locally to do things better,” Thompson said.

North East Mayor Kelly Benson told the Cecil Whig that the town didn’t have policies in place to deny these groups from participating in the parade. However, Benson told the newspaper, that could change in the future to ensure the event feels joyful and welcoming for all and promotes unity, community and Christmas.

“The town will be taking steps to ensure that future participants uphold the values that make this event such an important part of our community’s holiday season,” Benson told the Whig.

Promotion of the North East Christmas parade said “the entire county” often joins together to celebrate the holidays with marching bands, vintage cars, floats, animal showcases and more. Representatives from the city who organized the parade did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Banner.

North East is a town of just over 4,000 people, 83% of whom are white, census data shows.