LOGAN MOLYNEUX - Daily Herald | Posted: Sunday, May 28, 2006 11:00 pm
Today, thousands of Americans will visit their local cemeteries to honor deceased armed forces personnel and loved ones.
Memorial Day got its start after the American Civil War as Decoration Day, on which the graves of fallen soldiers were decorated. The name Memorial Day was first used in 1882, but it didn't become the official name until 1967. Traditionally, it was held on May 30, but a 1971 law changed it to the last Monday in May.
While they think of their loved ones, probably few cemetery visitors will consider the preparation and cleanup process the cemeteries must go through. During this long Memorial Day weekend, visitors to Provo Cemetery will leave more than 50,000 plants and flowers near the graves of their loved ones.
And there are similarly surprising vegetation deposits at other Utah County cemeteries. Most cemeteries throw the flowers away, but Provo Cemetery has a different strategy.
"On Monday, a week after Memorial Day, at 6 a.m., we start clearing them off the graves," said Cathy Jackson, who works in the Provo Cemetery office. "And we put them on the west side of the cemetery."
Once they're there, it's a free-for-all. Anyone can come and take whatever they like from the pile of flowers. Jackson said it gets a little crazy.
"Oh, gosh!" she said. "We have a bullhorn and police barricades keeping people out."
Police barricadesfi That sounds a little extreme.
"They're good flowers," Jackson said. "There's all sorts of gleaning that goes on. People use them in their yards. People even take the artificial flowers. On some years, when it's really hot, the flowers are mostly dead, but on other years they're pretty good."
And don't even think about coming early and sneaking off with the flowers. Jackson said cemetery personnel patrol the grounds after Memorial Day to keep an eye out for people trying to get the jump on the flower-day crowds.
"We have to watch out for people helping themselves to the flowers before it's time," Jackson said. "We have to be watchful and remind them that they can't take other people's flowers."
While the cemetery's policies are in place to keep the grounds clean, some families might not like the thought of their flowers being swept from the grave sites. Families of the deceased can come and collect their own flowers until Sunday. Otherwise, they'll end up in the piles of flowers Jackson said are unceremoniously dumped off a big truck.
"Come around 9:30 or 10 a.m.," she said. "That's when it gets really good."
Orem Cemetery sexton Alan Sundquist said the 7,000 graves at the cemetery collect their fair share of flowers, but they don't bother offering them to the public. Whatever is still there a week after the holiday is carted off to the landfill.
"We usually take out eight or nine one-ton flatbed trucks, heaping with flowers," Sundquist said.
He said Memorial Day weekend is the busiest time of the year, and he and his crew take extra care to get the cemetery ready for all the visitors. He said they level sunken headstones and cut the grass around all of them. That takes a couple of days at the Orem Cemetery, but it takes a full week of eight-hour days at the Provo Cemetery, which has 27,000 grave sites.
"Every headstone has to have the weedeater go around it weekly," Jackson said, "so they're going constantly."
She said the Provo Cemetery only allows foot traffic on the cemetery grounds during Memorial Day. It would be gridlock if they didn't, she said. Sundquist said the Orem Cemetery allows cars, but doesn't allow funerals on Memorial Day weekend.
"There are times you can't even drive through," Sundquist said. "You just couldn't get a funeral in there."
Dean Judd, manager of East Lawn Memorial Hills Cemetery in Provo, said another problem is that he can't water very often during that weekend. Then the thirsty grass sees the bottoms of several feet, and he said the grounds look pretty dry and worn after Memorial Day.
Interestingly, he said many people come early, even the weekend before, so Memorial Day isn't just a one-day event.
"It'll start a week in advance," Judd said, "so people will come this weekend because they plan on being out of town next weekend."
Judd's observation was echoed by Tom Gordon, president of the Flower Patch florist chain. Memorial Day is the busiest day of the year for cemeteries, and they get all sorts of flowers, but it's just a little busier than a normal day for Flower Patch.
"People buy cheap flowers at grocery stores or pull flowers that are growing in their yards," Gordon said. "The tradition has changed a little. Our generation looks at Memorial Day as a three-day weekend instead of the holiday it was before."
He said Valentine's Day is at least 10 times busier than Memorial Day weekend. So imagine what would happen if all those flowers ended up in, say, city parks.
Despite the headache the flowers cause for cemetery grounds crews, Sundquist said there are benefits.
"Tuesday morning when everybody's done, it's neat to pull up and just look at all the flowers everywhere," he said. "It's quite a sight."
Both the Provo and Orem cemeteries have Memorial Day programs put on by the American Legion. The programs feature speeches about and by veterans, and include flag and other ceremonies to honor those who have died while serving in the armed forces.
This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page B1.