For a Good Time, Go to Your Local Cemetary

There's a new trend developing in family entertainment:

For more than a century, folks have gone to Olinger Crown Hill Cemetery to mourn endings. But now, the 260-acre, 103-year-old graveyard is working to reimagine itself as something more than a spot for solemn rituals.

Crown Hill is pushing into the territory of galleries and performance halls, scheduling concerts and art exhibitions in hopes of engaging more routinely with the community, said general manager Kevin Wolfe.

"People come to cemeteries, and they are always looking down," he said.

But Wolfe wants them to look around, to experience the music and the art, the plants, the history and the culture.

Crown Hill, 7777 W. 29th Ave., has laid careful plans for its transformation, as have

some competitors. Cemeteries across the country are increasingly broadening their attractions beyond disposal of bodies to draw people past the wrought-iron gates.
For example, Denver's historic Fairmount Cemetery, 430 S. Quebec St., has long been hailed for its fine collection of old roses and trees but also hosts "First Friday" social events, summer potlucks celebrating loved ones buried there and concerts that pay tribute to Colorado history.

"This is part of the way in which cemeteries have been sprucing themselves up," said Marilyn Yalom, who wrote "The American Resting Place," a history of 400 years of cemeteries in the United States. "It's a contemporary movement that doesn't have a counterpart in the past."

Commerce, Yalom said, is behind some of the evolution. Cemetery directors want to bring people onto the grounds, to introduce them to the place and make it feel comfortable instead of forbidding.

About 10 years ago a cemetery in Santa Ana, CA tried something similar and for three years held an annual gospel concert on the steps of the mausoleum. I performed in two of those concerts, and my favorite line was that it was the first time I'd sung somewhere where there were more people laying down than sitting up.

The cemetery had hoped the crowd present for the concert would be more likely to buy cemetery property and purchase advance plans with the staff that was present for the concert.  The series was canceled after three years when it didn't yield the results the cemetery had hoped for.

Older cemeteries are fascinating places to visit.  I remember walking around a church graveyard in New Market, VA that had graves dating back to the Revolutionary War.  There were also lots of Civil War graves there.  Of course, Arlington National Cemetery has a tremendous amount of history there, from Robert E. Lee's family home to the graves of presidents, generals, astronauts, and thousands of veterans.

I don't think they're ever going to catch on as family entertainment venues since they'll never be able to get rid of the "creepy" factor.  And I'm not sure people today are going to be as willing to spend thousands of dollars on cemetery property and all the other things required as they were in the past.  Cheap cremations may become a lot more popular than fancy, expensive memorials in cemeteries.  That's certainly the direction I'm going to go.