Evergreen Cemetery Association - 2012 Marker Cleaning Project

Over the many years that Evergreen Cemetery has been operating, quite a few of the lawn-level markers have been partially or totally obscured by encroaching sod. Hiring and paying workers to clean them all off would be a budget-buster for the Evergreen Cemetery Association.

So the Association board members were very enthusiastic about a request made by Peter Wells. For his Eagle Scout Project, he wanted to organize a group of volunteers to clean markers for 3 hours on a Saturday morning. The board granted the request and encouraged him to move ahead with the project.

After receiving some marker cleaning tips and practicing on a few markers, Peter made a Grave Marker Cleaning Tutorial video to share with the volunteers:

Members of the Boy Scouts, the Key Club from Brainerd High School, the Builder's Club from Forestview Middle School, and the Brainerd Lakes Catholic Churches Youth Group as well as other friends and family agreed to help out.

On Saturday, October 27, 2012, the volunteers assembled at Evergreen cemetery for marker cleaning from 9 am to noon. Peter reported that “the project was a great success! There were about 40 volunteers and we cleaned over 400 grave markers. All the people who were there said they had a great time.” The markers that were cleaned up were all in block 44, just inside the Third Avenue gate to the right.

The Board of Trustees extends its gratitude and appreciation to all those who participated, and especially to Peter Wells for organizing this event.


Here is a photo gallery of the event. It's wonderful to see so many enthusiastic volunteers working together on this worthy project.