365PDX#142: Lone Fir Cemetery Twilight Heritage Celebration

Posted July 24, 2010

365 Things to do in Portland #142: Lone Fir Cemetery Twilight Heritage Celebration.

There is often so many things happening at once in Portland, that it’s hard to get to them in time on a daily blog like this. Todays (and tomorrows) posts reflect that, as they are about events happening they day they are posted.

I bike and drive by the Lone Fir Cemetery almost everyday, and noticed a sign the other week for Twilight Celebration posted in the grass outside the cemetery. Every time I passed it, I wondered what kind of a celebration would take place at a cemetery. I’ve lived in the neighborhood since 1996 and have never been inside the cemetery. If nothing else, this could be interesting just to check the place out. I did some research and here is what’s happening (from Metro website):

Portland Commissioner Nick Fish and Metro Council President David Bragdon invite you to enjoy an evening at Lone Fir Pioneer Cemetery. Bring a picnic and blanket and enjoy this 30-acre arboretum in the heart of Southeast Portland while learning about the City of Portland’s Urban Forestry program. Visit the three heritage trees being dedicated: the lone Douglas fir for which the cemetery was named, the General Joseph Lane maple and a 100-foot-tall incense cedar. Metro Council President David Bragdon invites you to stay and enjoy featured artists from the Lone Fir Cemetery CD ‘Dearly Departed’ and then watch the screening of the documentary ‘Come Together Home’ by Ivy Lin. Learn about deceased Chinese settlers and rail workers who were interred and later disinterred at Lone Fir and the plans for a memorial park on the sacred site in the southwest corner of the cemetery known as Block 14. Buddhist masters from the Hui Lin Temple will perform a cleansing ceremony honoring pioneer-era Chinese settlers and patients of Dr. Jame C. Hawthorne who are interred in Block 14. Enter the cemetery on Southeast 26th Avenue between Stark and Morrison streets. Free. Hosted by Metro, City of Portland, Friends of Lone Fir and the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association

This is today (Saturday July 24th) 6:00-10:30 PM. 26th and SE Stark