Shady and inviting as it might be, the Fairmount Cemetery seems an unusual site for a concert by the Queen City Jazz Band and a Sweet Adelines chorus.
But both groups and the John Philip Sousa Band of Colorado will entertain at picnics scheduled there throughout Memorial Day Weekend.
Barbara Eastin, cemetery vice president, said she looks forward to seeing picnickers up on their feet dancing. Not on graves, of course, but on the grassy area and circular drive in front of the grounds’ historic mausoleum.
Concerts are still new to Fairmount, with the only other one in recent memory being held on the first anniversary of 9/11. The Denver Jazz Band played and people were eventually moved to dance, Eastin said.
But Fairmount picnics were commonplace in the late 1880s and early 1890s – and not just on holidays.
Back then, on weekends, especially Sundays, 3,000 to 4,000 people would ride a miniature train that linked Denver’s streetcar system to the cemetery, then an out-of-the- way spot at what is now East Alameda Avenue and South Quebec Street, according to historian David Halaas.
Halaas is a former Colorado state historian and author of a book about the cemetery, “Fairmount and Historic Colorado.”
“They also came out in horse and buggy,” Eastin said. “And if you came out in horse and buggy, that was pretty much a day trip. So you would bring your picnic and your water and all that other kinds of stuff.”
Fairmount, founded in 1880, was one of a new type of graveyard being built throughout the country. Called park cemeteries, they put a premium on design and landscaping.
“Riverside was the first one here, in 1876,” said Tom Noel, a history professor at the University of Colorado at Denver. “The idea is to make a kind of a slow, quiet sanctuary.”
The first park-style cemetery in the United States, Boston’s Mount Auburn, opened in 1832.
“Up until that time, cemeteries were places to bury the dead and kind of creepy places,” Halaas said. “It wouldn’t be a place where you’d want to have picnics or walk around. They were boneyards. That’s what they were.”
Denver’s boneyard was the City Cemetery, which occupied the area now covered by Cheesman Park and the Denver Botanic Gardens. The bodies were later moved to Riverside and Fairmount.
“It was an example of what was wrong with cemeteries,” Noel said. “It was more like a ‘boot hill.”‘
The city had no way of watering the cemetery, which was key for the trees, shrubs and flowers that make park cemeteries, he said.
City Cemetery’s location in a residential neighborhood and close to downtown led to it becoming a favorite place for youngsters to play. That led to vandalized graves and even the digging up of bodies, Noel said.
Park cemeteries were privately owned, so there was a financial reward for making them attractive.
“It was done as a corporate venture, not just a place to bury people but a going corporation,” Halaas said. “The way you would get value out of your money was to get people to want to be buried there. The more pleasant you could make it the more people would sign up.” (Fairmount and Riverside now are not- for-profit corporations run by a board of directors.)
“Originally, it was a sanctuary for the dead, but the living didn’t have parks in those days, so they would go out for picnics (and visit) the family plot,” Noel said.
Park cemeteries also allowed civic leaders to show community pride.
“The founders were the very pioneers of not only Denver but Colorado and even the West,” Halaas said. “They wanted a place that spoke well of the city and that they could take out-of-town visitors to and show them that the people out West weren’t uncivilized boors but up with the times and as modern as Auburn and any other place in the country.”
Noel said Fairmount and cemeteries like it were the prototypes of city-owned parks.
In fact, Fairmount was the creation of landscape architect Reinhard Schuetze, who went on to design City and Cheesman parks and the state Capitol grounds, Eastin said.
“The picnics probably stopped about the time that City Park, Cheesman Park and Wash Park started to look like parks instead of bare landscapes,” she said.
The growing popularity of automobiles in the 1920s also contributed to the demise of cemeteries as picnic grounds.
Halaas said there was not much peripheral use of U.S. cemeteries until the 1970s, when people were encouraged to use them for jogging, cycling and other activities.
Fairmount is open to visitors daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Its 25 miles of paved and dirt roads and paths provide a safe place for parents to teach their children how to ride a bike.
“But not on Memorial Day,” Eastin said with a laugh. “Let me emphasize again, not on Memorial Day. That’s our busiest day of the year.”
Fairmount is also a great place to touch the history of the city and state, one that Noel uses to bring life to his state history classes at CU. Eastin noted that a cemetery is one of the few place one can stand next to historical figures and feel close to them.
“One of my greatest experience was to go to Auburn and stand by Paul Revere’s grave,” Eastin said. “I thought that was really neat.”
Visitors this weekend – or any day – can take various self-guided walking tours of the cemetery by following directions in booklets available for purchase at the office. They include “Walking Into Historical Colorado,” “Trail of Trees: Guide to Historic Trees at Fairmount” and “Distinguished Colorado Women.”
But don’t walk so far that you will be too tired to dance if the mood strikes.
Staff writer Ed Will can be reached at 303-820-1694 or ewill@denverpost.com.
Memorial Day Weekend Community Concerts
PICNIC AND MUSIC|Fairmount Cemetery, 430 S. Quebec St.; Picnic, 5 p.m.; concert, 6 p.m. Saturday (John Philip Sousa Band), Sunday (High Country Chorus) and Monday (Queen City Jazz Band)|FREE|303-399-0692
Memorial Day events
Denver Memorial Day Parade
Slain Denver police Detective Donald “Donnie” Young is being honored at the annual Denver Memorial Day Parade with the title of honorary co-marshal. The parade steps off at 10 a.m. Saturday. A large contingent of Denver police officers is expected to recognize Young by marching in the parade, organizers said. It begins at Bannock Street and Colfax Avenue and goes to Court Place, north to 15th Street to Stout Street to 17th Street to Broadway. It ends after passing the review stand at Civic Center. Admission is free. Call 303-283-1801.
Veterans Memorial Day Tribute
Lincoln Park, Broadway and Colfax Avenue.
The reading of the names of military personnel who have died since last Memorial Day is one of the highlights of the afternoon tribute. It also includes live music, color guard, drill team and medal presentations. The morning session features coffee and placement of a wreath at the Colorado Veterans Monument. 8-10 a.m. and noon-2 p.m. Saturday; free; 303-662-1110.
Boulder Creek Festival
Ninth to 14th streets between Canyon Boulevard and Arapahoe Avenue.
More than 500 vendors offering everything from food to arts and crafts to health alternatives to technology have signed on for this event. Festival also includes two beer gardens, carnival rides and the signature event, the Great Rubber Duck Race. 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday (food courts and entertainment go until 10 p.m. both days) and 11 a.m.- 7 p.m. Monday; free; bouldercreekevents.com
Colorado Arts Festival
Denver Pavilions, 16th Street and Glenarm Place.
More than 180 of the state’s artists gather to show and sell works in all media. The event also features children’s activities, wine tasting, sampling of fine foods and live entertainment presented by Swallow Hill Music Association. 4-8 p.m. today, 11 am.-8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday; free; coloradoartsfestival.org
Old South Gaylord Memorial Day Weekend Festival
1000 block of South Gaylord Street
This festival, which is in its 26th year, prides itself on being a family-oriented event. It features kiddie rides, climbing wall, bungee tramp, face painting, more than 70 food and craft booths and a wide variety of live entertainment presented continuously on two stages. Metro Taxi provides a free shuttle from South High School on East Louisiana Avenue. Free; 303-575-1130
Blues, Brews and Barbecue Festival
Vilar Center for Arts and Beaver Creek Plaza.
Post columnist Dick Kreck and the Park Hyatt Beaver Creak host the largest Colorado micro brewer beer tasting, with more than 100 ales, lagers and stouts to sample. Event includes two seminars. 1-5 p.m. Saturday at the arts center; $35-$40. 970-949-1234; The barbecue festival features a cookoff, blues music and children’s activities at the plaza. Noon-6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; free; 970-845-9090.
Celebration of the Arts
Memorial Park, Manitou Springs.
Some 30 artists and craftspeople put their works and wares up for sale. Live music and food vendors are also part of the annual celebration. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday-Monday; free; 719-685-9655.
-Ed Will
