Community involvement in a small town for Memorial Day

Community involvement in a small town for Memorial Day

Woodland Park, Colo., is a small mountain town of approximately 8,000 residents at an elevation of 8,500 ft. Because it is a small town, when patriotic events are celebrated, American Legion Post 1980 and VFW Post 6051 usually join together to make the event happen. On the Saturday prior to Memorial Day, the American Legion and VFW membership invite the local public to join us in placing flags on veterans' graves at the Woodland Park cemetery. It has become customary that entire families show up for this event. Moms, dads, grandmas, grandpas and all the kids come out and help us place flags on veterans graves. The Woodland Park cemetery is not a veterans cemetery. It is a community cemetery owned by the City of Woodland Park. Because of this you will find veterans' graves scattered all around. Veterans' graves from the time of the Indian wars to Vietnam can be found scattered around the cemetery. We always take a group photo prior to placing flags. We encourage the families to have their children place the flags as a lesson in patriotism.