Last week, it was brought to the public's attention via social media that Roselawn Cemetery in Roseville was hosting the 1st Annual Rods and Stones Car Show. The event is planned for a 7 acre-plus field that is used as a buffer zone between Larpenteur Ave and the nonprofit cemetery's gravesites. The cemetery superintendent who is also the director of the car show said people will not be driving through the cemetery or parking near the graves. The event would be 100 yards from the nearest grave. Those in favor of the show say the event is "at' the cemetery not "in" the cemetery.
The idea for the car show came last year after hot rods converged there for the memorial service of the founder of the Minnesota Street Rod Association. This year's event is intended to raise money for the association's college scholarship fund.
Those that take issue with this event question the appropriateness of having a car show at a place meant to memorialize the dead. They are calling the car show incredibly disgusting. Families against the car show say they were told there would be quiet plots and a serene setting.
Those in favor of the car show take a different perspective. One man has visited his wife's grave for nine years. He comes every day in his 1950 custom Ford sedan. He feels people are way, way, way overreacting.
On August 17, after much pressure, the Roselawn Cemetery board met and voted unanimously to cancel the car show citing distress over the location by many people who have loved ones buried at Roselawn. The event was intended to do three things: 1. Raise funds for the MSRA college fund; 2. to help make cemeteries less intimidating and forbidding; and 3. to connect with local residents. The superintendent of the cemetery thought "It would be a way to invite people out to enjoy a beautiful Saturday in a charming out-of-the-way part of the campus".
The board plans to make a contribution to the college fund despite the cancellation. The first annual 'something' will have to wait.
This discussion got me to thinking about our semi-annual car show we used to have on the Opening of Sunday School. We would park our custom cars only steps away from the East Union graves. There was no buffer zone. In fact one Fall we had old tractors on display. And a cake walk and a kiddie fish pond too.
As far I as I can recall there never was a complaint about the cars and tractors. Everyone enjoyed walking up and down the rows of cars with their coffee cup in hand.
So what makes one cemetery have to face the calls and complaints about noise and appropriateness and another cemetery car show goes celebrated and enjoyed?
My opinion is that this event scheduled on one afternoon a year should be a reasonable compromise. Why should the naysayers get all the afternoons?
I wonder what the reaction would be if Roselawn decided to have an Easter Egg hunt in their cemetery like we do.
Pastor Tom