Announcing Our 2026 Grand Marshals: 

Connie and Mark Mageary

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The Monticello-Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce is proud to announce that Connie and Mark Mageary will serve as the 2026 Grand Marshals of the Monticello Watermelon Festival. 

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US Navy Chief Petty Officer Connie Mageary (Retired)

Hospital Corpsman Chief Petty Officer (Fleet Marine Force) Connie Mageary was born in Twin Falls, Idaho. Chief Mageary enlisted in the United States Navy in 1989 and served her country honorably for 24 years. She attended recruit training in Orlando Fl and from there she reported to Hospital Corpsman “A” school, in Great Lakes. Connie served and deployed in a variety of duty stations throughout the world in places such as Okinawa, Japan, where she served with the US Marines, San Diego where she worked in the OR, Marine Air Wing Kanehoe, HI, Kuwait in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, Rota, Spain where she was part of the Fleet Surgical Team taking patients from the front lines of Iraq, and Afghanistan with the Cooperative Medical Assistance a Joint Operation Team, 30th MEDCOM. She was in charge of planning, coordination, and executing medical, veterinarian, entomology, and humanitarian civil-military operations across the Combined Joint Operations area of Afghanistan. Chief Mageary had other duty stations throughout the United States as well..

 

Chief Mageary’s personal awards include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (4 awards), Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal (3 awards), and various campaign, service and unit awards.

 

HMC (FMF) Mageary, retired, currently resides in Monticello Florida with her husband Mark. They have 5 children within their blended family spread through out the country. 

 

 

 

US Navy Master Chief Petty Officer Mark Mageary (retired)

Master Chief Mark Mageary was born in Henrietta, NY in 1969. Master Chief enlisted in the Navy right out of high school in 1987 and served his country for over 3 decades.  He attended recruit training in Great Lakes and from there reported to AG “A” School. Master Chief has served and deployed in various duty stations throughout the globe. A few of his duty stations were Guam, where he was a Special Projects Forecaster, Hawaii, where he worked on the staff of US Pacific Fleet and also assigned to Special Operations Command Pacific where he deployed to the southern Philippines in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and was part of the team to rescue two American Hostages. He has deployed to southern Iraq supporting combat operations and to Afghansitan where he served as a Combat Advisor with the Afghan National Army. He has also served in various duty stations throughout the United States. 

 

Master Chief’s personal awards include the Meritorious Service Medal, Joint Commendation Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, Combat Action Ribbon and various other campaign and service awards.