The annual Fayetteville Cemetery Walk Friday, Saturday and Sunday this week will serve as lead-in to the Halloween season.
Additionally it will raise funds to do a ground radar search for unmarked or long-lost burial plots, especially for African-Americans whose final resting place is in the area of the historic cemetery, according to Gail Jenkins, chairperson of the nonprofit group Friends of the Historic Fayetteville Cemetery.
“It is a Main Street Fayetteville event in conjunction with the newly formed Friends of the Historic Fayetteville City Cemetery group,” Jenkins said. “This group is a 501 C3 non-profit that was formed with a mission to oversee the restoration and beautification of the city cemetery that has no perpetual care.
“The ticket sales will go to help them pay for a ground penetrating radar company to find all unmarked graves in the cemetery and get them marked and identified. They will also be selling the Memorial Bricks the days of the walk. These bricks will be laid to form a path into the African-American section later in the spring of 2023” she said.
“The path is going to give those in wheelchairs, on walkers or scooters the ability to visit their loved ones that are interred in the African-American section of the cemetery,” Jenkins said.
The dates of this year’s Walk are Friday and Saturday, Oct. 14 and 15, from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., tours every 15 minutes, with the last tour starting at 9 p.m.
On Sunday, Oct. 16, tours start at 2 p.m. for every 15 minutes, with the final tour starting at 3 p.m.
Sunday daytime tours have been added for those that work nights, seniors who don’t drive at night and those that have physical challenges walking the terrain. There will be golf carts available to carry those that need assistance.
There will be popcorn, water and sodas for sale.
Tickets can be purchased on the Eventbrite site — Fayetteville Cemetery Walk, with tickets $15 plus fees. Discounts are available for military, all children, and those age 55 and older. Look for the discount code on the Eventbrite website.
