Latest news with #MattGage
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Cemetery makes final preparations for Memorial Day
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Memorial Day is a day where we can remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice. The week leading up to the holiday can be a busy time for cemeteries, especially for staff at Mount Pleasant in Sioux Falls, who had to clean up a mess left behind by heavy winds last week. Keepers of the cemeteries in South Dakota It was a calm and sunny morning at Mount Pleasant Cemetery. Leola Sievers was there, and our fallen U.S. military members were weighing heavy on her heart. 'It's so peaceful here for us today. What would it be like if they didn't fight for our country? What would it be like today?' Sievers said. As people like Sievers were paying their respects, cemetery manager Matt Gage and his son, Archer, were still cleaning up after heavy winds last week scattered branches over the grounds. 'We pushed through, and we got the place mowed. We're finishing branches this morning still, but we're open, and families have been here all weekend,' Matt Gage said. It was a furious cleanup. 'It was insane. We had about a half dozen volunteers come in from the community and agree to help us help with mowing, help with picking up sticks, help with putting out flags yesterday morning, helping plant flowers,' Matt Gage said. Memorial Day also has a special meaning to Matt Gage. Mount Pleasant is his four-time great grandfather's final resting place. He served for the Union Army in the Civil War as a veterinarian. 'It's the reason that I choose to work here: family and friends. Mount pleasant is full of family and friends, and I think it's an important place to maintain and preserve,' Matt Gage said. It's just one of the many stories you can find at Mount Pleasant and one more reason why the Gages try to honor those we lost. 'It's just really important to me because I can see the sacrifices they had to make to basically keep us safe,' Archer Gage said. Gage says he also hired a mowing company that put in more hours than contracted to help get the cemetery ready for the weekend. LIST: Memorial Day events in South Dakota Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Winds hinder cemetery Memorial Day preps
SIOUX FALLS, SD (KELO) — Our blustery, wet weather is creating challenges at some cemeteries in KELOLAND that are preparing for the Memorial Day holiday weekend. Sioux Falls' oldest cemetery is picking up branches that have been knocked down by the strong winds. Former deputy sheriff charged with rape after standoff The week prior to Memorial Day is always a busy time at Mount Pleasant Cemetery. 'Memorial Day weekend coming up is our Super Bowl here in cemetery-land,' Mount Pleasant Cemetery Executive Director Matt Gage said But the windy weather has forced Mount Pleasant to play catch up with some emergency landscaping. 'It's been a hard spring for us, Perry. This morning, we're dealing with tree branches everywhere from the winds last night. We're dealing with downed trees in the backgrounds,' Gage said. Gage says he'll have to cut down this tree was was split open by the wind. Placing flowers at the grave sites will have to wait until Tuesday, at the earliest. 'I have volunteers coming out to start on that tomorrow, even if I gotta put them in ponchos,' Gage said. The cemetery has ordered 93 memorial planters from Oakridge Nursery & Landscaping in Brandon. 'The annual planters we have were started usually around the end of March, first of April. We grow them in our greenhouses until they're ready to go outside. They'll come pick them up right before Memorial Day,' Oakridge Nursery & Landscaping Owner Daemon Coughlin said. Despite the weather-related setbacks, Gage is confident he'll have the cemetery ready for all the families who are honoring their loved ones who are buried here this weekend. 'To me, that's what's special about Memorial Day out here, is seeing those families interact, take care of their graves that their families have and reconnect with their past,' Gage said. Gage says he's hiring a team of professional mowers instead of having his staff take on the job all by themselves. He estimates less than half of the 50-acre cemetery has been mowed ahead of the holiday weekend. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
