People of all ages turn out for clean-up at the Flomaton cemetery
Bags of debris gathered at the Flomaton Cemetery
Youth joined the crowd to help with the cleanup
"It was beyond everything I expected," is how Kay Wagner explained Saturday's clean-up day at Flomaton Cemetery.
In March, Wagner announced that she was working on a plan to bring back 'Decoration Day' and have volunteers come and help clean up the cemetery. She said 'Decoration Day' began in 1868 after the Civil War ended and was set aside for people to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. Over the years, the Saturday before Mother's Day was set aside as the clean-up day.
"The response has been unbelievable," she said. "After the first story ran in the paper (April 29 edition of the Tri-City Ledger) I had people calling me wanting to help."
Wagner said while this past Saturday was the 'official' clean-up day, people started going to the cemetery about every day to begin the clean-up.
She said she got tears in her eyes Saturday by seeing all the children who came out to help rake and bag leaves and debris.
"I told you I was putting it in God's hands and he blessed us," Wagner said.
She said people worked most of the day trimming limbs, weed-eating and cutting back bushes.
"I drove by Monday and Tuesday and there were still people out there working," she said.
Although a huge dumpster of debris was hauled off, she said there is still debris and bags that need to be removed and she's working on that now.
"We still need people to help trim the azaleas," she said. "Hopefully this brought attention to the problem and people will continue to help."
