Holiday Craft Show to benefit Griggsville Cemetery improvement efforts

By Editor | November 14, 2023 |

By DAVID CAMPHOUSE

Submitted photo
Bill Buchanan is shown unearthing a monument in Griggsville’s Cemetery. Buchanan, Buchanan’s family members, and other volunteers have been putting in hundreds of volunteer hours to make improvements to the cemetery. Improvements have included painting the gates and flagpole, landscaping, as well as cleaning and resetting gravestones.

A Holiday Vendor and Craft Show is being planned to benefit the ongoing Griggsville City Cemetery restoration project. The vendor and craft show is scheduled for Nov. 25 at 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. at the Griggsville American Legion Hall.

According to vendor and craft show organizer Rachel Baker, over 18 vendors will be present at the show.

Proceeds from a raffle during the show will benefit the cemetery restoration efforts. Each vendor is donating items to be raffled off to benefit the cemetery. Items, according to Baker, include Nature House prints and prize baskets.

Baker said that the vendor and craft show is designed to not only raise money for the restoration efforts, but to raise community awareness of the effort to clean up and improve the cemetery.

“We just saw there was a need,” Baker said. “We wanted to do something to make people aware of the restoration project.”

“The money raised will help purchase supplies needed to clean up the stones and level the stones.”

Griggsville Mayor Kent Goewey credits the work to restore the cemetery to a small group of volunteers.

“It’s all volunteers,” Goewey said. “I asked Bill and Kathy Buchanan to spearhead it, and they really took the bull by the horns. They’ve already accomplished ten times more than I ever expected.”

“It’s looking really good down there. It’s finally getting the due that it’s needed. It hasn’t had that much care in the last 10 to 15 years.”

Baker said that much work has already been accomplished at the cemetery – including painting the cemetery gates and flagpoles.

All told, Baker said that in the last 60 days 200 gravestones have been restored and cleaned, and an additional 156 gravestones that didn’t require restoration or repairs have also been cleaned.

The work is thanks to over 1,500 hours of volunteer work on the part of Bill and Kathy Buchanan, other family members, and other volunteers. Work has also been done by the Pittsfield Work Camp and the Boy Scouts.

Goewey expressed gratitude to the volunteers for the restoration work at the cemetery.

“They have really stepped up and gone above and beyond,” Goewey said of the Buchanans and family members. “They’ve spent countless hours down there, seven days a week. I’ve even seen them down there working under a tent when it was raining.”

Goewey also said that the city, which now owns the cemetery, has plans to assist with making improvements to the cemetery grounds.

“We’re working on taking down trees,” Goewey said. “There isn’t one of them that hasn’t been damaged in a storm.”

Goewey said that the city plans to replace the trees in the future with newly planted trees.

Goewey indicated that residents can always make donations to the cemetery by dropping of a check at the City Hall or FNBG. The checks should have “Griggsville Cemetery” written in the memo line.

Those interested in volunteering or donating to the Griggsville Cemetery restoration effort should contact the City of Griggsville at 217-833-2412.

In addition to the improvements to the cemetery property and gravestones, Baker said that the volunteers involved in the restoration project also hope to improve maps and name indexing of the cemetery to make it easier for visitors to navigate the grounds.

“It’s important to preserve our past,” Baker said.