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Memorials, Cemeteries Celebrate Life of Community Figures While Americans Opt For New Ways to be Memorialized

April 2002

COLD SPRING, Minn., April XX/PRNewswire/ -- When Americans pay their respects on Memorial Day, they will notice an increasing change in the types of memorials they see and cemeteries they visit.

According to Mike Baklarz, senior vice president of sales and marketing of Minn.-based Cold Spring Granite Co. (www.coldspringgranite.com), the largest granite quarrier and memorial fabricator in North America, three key developments are influencing the way people are being memorialized.

The first is the rapid rise in cremations and cremorials-memorials with cremated remains inured in urns, graves, crypts or niches. According to Baklarz, only four percent of people preferred to be cremated a generation ago but the rate last year leaped to 25 percent. The Cremation Association of North America says that will reach 38 percent in 2010. The popularity of cremation is owed to its simplicity, portability and usage of less space.

Secondly, memorials traditionally came in understated colors and rectangular shapes, but Baklarz says, "There are more expressive Baby Boomers now preferring memorials with unconventional shapes, richer variegated colors and carvings and etchings that reflect their hobbies."

Baklarz describes the last development as cemeteries becoming destinations, showcasing memorials of historical figures, impressive structures and manicured landscapes reminiscent of rural cemeteries that people visited in the 19th century, often in horse-drawn carriages, to spend weekends away from crowded cities.

Minneapolis' Lakewood Cemetery, for example, features a chapel that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A mausoleum accommodating 3,000 crypts is decorated with Impressionist paintings, Italian marble and crystal chandeliers. More than 95,000 flowers and plants are grown every season over 250 acres. Garden parks, featuring distinct spiritual themes, provide visitors special places to reflect.

Lakewood offers special tours featuring memorials of historical figures, such as Charles M. Loring, who developed the Minneapolis Park System and Col. John Stevens, whose house was the first permanent dwelling in Minneapolis. The Memorial Day celebration that the cemetery holds epitomizes what Lakewood's President Ron Gjerde describes "as our mission to celebrate life with the community."

"You'd never think of taking a walk at a cemetery," says Baklarz. "But places like Lakewood are changing old outdated notions people had about cemeteries being uninviting places."

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For more information about memorialization trends and to arrange an interview with Baklarz, contact Linda Mathiasen at 320-685-5068 or LMathiasen@coldspringgranite.com.