On Halloween morning, dozens of people gathered at a local cemetery — not for trick-or-treating, but to tend to the dead.

Metro, the regional government that oversees public parks throughout Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties, invited the public to help them maintain the marked graves of those laid to rest at the Columbia Pioneer Cemetery.

Armed with butter knives, chopsticks, brushes and rags, volunteers stooped over headstones to wipe them clean of lichen and mud. The oasis of green is a calm island amid the bustle of traffic along Sandy Boulevard and the nearby I-5 freeway.

“I’ve wanted to learn how to take care of the tombs before, but I didn’t want to mess anything up or do something disrespectful,” said Jorden Corona, who has a personal fascination with historic burial plots and Victorian-era grieving rituals. “I spend a lot of my time in cemeteries because I think they’re peaceful.”

The 2.5-acre plot of land in Portland’s Parkrose neighborhood is one of 14 historic cemeteries that Metro manages, and its storied history began in 1877. Some of the first European settlers who did not survive the Oregon Trail are buried at the Columbia Pioneer Cemetery, according to Jessica Rojas, a lead for the community education and stewardship team at Metro. Sandy Boulevard also traces the original trail walked by Native Americans between the Willamette and Sandy rivers.

“We’re creating these opportunities to renormalize what people have always been doing since time immemorial, taking care of their deceased relatives, community members,” Rojas said.

There are monuments in the cemetery that are over 100 years old, where the deceased may no longer have living members of their family who remember to tend their graves. Other headstones were placed as recently as last year.

“When people come to tend to their loved ones, we want them to come into a cemetery that looks cared for,” Rojas said.

When the event series started about four years ago, it was only attended by a handful of people, according to Rojas. Now, at Metro’s first cemetery cleanup hosted on Halloween, dozens turned out to help.

Sophia Butler drove from West Linn to attend the event and wrangled together over a dozen of her friends and family members to join her. She felt it was important to show her kids how to take care of public spaces.

“I didn’t realize how much vandalism happened in cemeteries, especially around Halloween,” she said. Her youngest son, Osric, 7, said searching for the plots felt like a treasure hunt.

“At first, I was really cold,” he said of the 46-degree morning. But picking up the trash and scrubbing inscribed stones warmed him up. “I like exploring places.”

Some of the grave markers lie under inches of dirt, buried under years of soil. Volunteer James Allman knelt on the soggy grass as he used the metal pole of a flag to poke around, feeling for something hard and solid. As he found another stone, he began to dig, carefully with a butter knife so as to not scratch a potential gravestone.

“This is necessary,” said Allman, who had previously attended two of these cleanups. His father-in-law is buried in another historic cemetery managed by Metro. “If we don’t do it, no one else will.”

Metro will host its next cemetery tending at Multnomah Park Cemetery on Friday, Nov. 13, 2026.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/11/01/volunteers-tend-to-the-dead-at-metros-first-halloween-cemetery-cleanup/