Today is the eve of Oysterville’s Big Weekend. It is the one weekend of the year that there are people in almost every residence in the village. It is a time of remembering past loved ones who are buried on Davis Hill and a time for renewing friendships with neighbors who are not in residence full-time.
Traditionally “Decoration Day” weekend here was a time that neighbors gathered at the cemetery to clean up their family plots and to decorate the graves with flowers. As far as I know, it was thought of as a fairly personal expression of honoring those who have gone before. Even though the VFW had a short, early morning service there on Memorial Day morning, very few folks attended.
When the Oysterville Restoration Foundation was formed back in 1980, it was decided that, since most people were ‘in town’ on this final weekend of May, it would be a logical time to hold the “Annual Meeting.” A decade or so later, when the Oysterville Water company was organized, they did likewise. That’s the way it was for a good many years and then… and then Hal and Diane arrived!
Now there are big doin’s in Oysterville on Memorial Day Weekend. There is a well-attended program at the cemetery in conjunction with the VFW/American Legion service. There is a “Ceremony of Remembrance” at the Oysterville Church featuring the Bayside Singers. And all of this is followed by a brunch for the Oysterville neighbors at the Oysterville Schoolhouse – a gift to the village from Hal and Diane.
What it adds up to this year is the “Third Annual Oysterville Ritual of Remembrance,” according to the flyer that was handed out to all the neighbors. It has become a day to look forward to as well as a day for remembering. Thanks, Hal and Diane!
Lovely, Sydney! My uncle used to decorate 70 graves before he passed. His son did it the year afterward, but since he lives in another county from the family homestead I don’t think anyone does it any more and certainly not for the “lost cemetery” my dad and uncle discovered in the woods when they were boys. Big scandal about those relatives. Have a fabulous weekend!