A long row of multicoloured blossoming trees were planted along the eastside of Powell River Regional Cemetery last week. The plants were made possible due to a $4,000 grant from the BC Hydro Community Regreening project, said qathet Regional District manager of operational services Patrick Devereaux.
“I’m just so proud of them,” he added. “They’re all different flowering crabapples.”
The grant bought 44 trees in total for the Cranberry cemetery as well as Woodland Cemetery on Texada Island. The BC Hydro program, in partnership with Tree Canada, has so far funded the planting of more than 300,000 trees across the province. When Devereaux applied for the grant, he said bringing spring flowers and colour to the local burial places was top of mind.
“I really wanted to do something at the cemeteries,” he added. “We needed some flowering trees here.”
Devereaux researched to find flowering trees that were hardy enough to withstand a little bit of climate change and some extended drought during the summer months.
“These trees are very adaptable to those sorts of things; they will grow 20 to 25 feet tall and expand by about double what they are now,” said Devereaux. “I cannot wait for three or four years from now to drive up here in the spring and see them all.”
Other improvements at the cemetery include an ongoing project to raise and realign headstones, which begin to settle over time, said Devereaux. Last year some 2,000 headstones from graves from the 1940s through to the 1970s were realigned. The refurbishment was paid for through the cemetery’s care fund for maintenance.
The cemetery itself is funded by qathet Regional District Electoral Areas A, B and C and City of Powell River.
All the maintenance comes in time for Royal Canadian Legion’s annual candlelight tribute on Saturday, May 4. The event to honour local veterans recognizes anyone who has served. A parade begins at the Cranberry cemetery at 3 pm followed by a short service and candle lighting.
A veterans dinner will follow at the Legion. Veterans do not have to be a Royal Canadian Legion member to participate.
Anyone who knows of a veteran interred at Cranberry, in Holy Cross Cemetery in Kelly Creek or another local burial place that has not previously been included in the tribute is asked to contact the Legion at 604.485.4870.
