Wreath ceremony on tap at Camp Polk Cemetery

Since 1992 Wreaths Across America has placed holiday wreaths at veterans' graves at Arlington National Cemetery. This event began, not as a way to decorate the graves, but as a way to remember the lives of fallen soldiers.

Since '92 the event has grown to more than 1,100 locations across the country. This year, Camp Polk Cemetery, Sisters' own cemetery, has been added to the list.

The cemetery, in Whychus Creek Canyon next to the Camp Polk Meadow Preserve owned by the Deschutes Land Trust, has a unique history in and of itself. With graves dating back to the 1880s, names like Fryrear and Hindman, Allingham, Farthing and Wilson marking the stones - Sisters Country history begins to come into shape.

Camp Polk Cemetery was originally owned by four Sisters families including the Hindmans. The remnants of their old barn can be seen on the Camp Polk Meadow Preserve property. In the early 1940s the property was entrusted to Thelma Roberts, and since then no additional ownership changes have taken place.

There is no clear ownership of the location, but this isn't an anomaly in older cemeteries across Oregon. What is unique is the fact that this location is still a working cemetery. In 1999, the Bend Genealogical Society received a grant to map and catalog all of the graves. They received a similar grant in 2014 from the Oregon State Parks & Recreation Department to again catalog additional graves and burials.

Over 200 burials have taken place at Camp Polk Cemetery, which include 34 veterans. The Wreaths Across America program is set to honor those 34 members of the military service through their upcoming ceremony.

"Camp Polk Cemetery is a very special place," said location coordinator Erin Borla. "Rich in Sisters history, it provides a window to the past. I feel more connected to my community through visiting and supporting this location."

The Camp Polk Cemetery wreath-laying ceremony will coincide with National Wreaths Across America Day on Saturday, December 17. The ceremony will begin at 9 a.m. to align with the ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.

Sisters V.F.W. Post 8138 and American Legion Post 86, along with other local volunteers will present the ceremony at the cemetery. Sisters volunteers, including the Sisters Cloverbuds 4-H Club will be participating in the wreath-laying portion of the day.

The ceremony will echo that of the ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery and cemeteries across the nation. It is free to attend and a non-political event, simply designed to honor and remember our country's veterans and their service as well as teach the next generation.

Community members are invited to attend the event and are asked to park at Aspen Lakes Golf Course. There will be a shuttle service taking visitors to the cemetery for the ceremony as parking is extremely limited at the event.

Thirty-five wreaths have been sponsored by local community members and businesses this year to ensure all veteran's graves will have a wreath.

"I've been touched by the outpouring of support for this event," says Borla. "Every person we've talked to has been supportive and offered to help."

If community members wish to volunteer to place wreaths at the event they need to register online at http://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org.

Wreaths will lay on graves until the first week of January, when they will all be removed by volunteers. For more information about the event, community members can log on to the national Wreaths Across America website at http://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org. For information about the local event or to ensure a family or friend who was involved in military service and is interred at Camp Polk Cemetery receives a wreath, please call 541-480-5994.