Metro’s first Halloween cemetery cleanup draws dozens of volunteers

Dozens of residents gathered at Columbia Pioneer Cemetery in Portland’s Parkrose neighborhood on Halloween morning to clean historic grave markers. The event marked the first time Metro, the regional government overseeing public parks in Multnomah, Clackamas, and Washington counties, hosted a tending session on that specific holiday.

Participants brought butter knives, chopsticks, brushes, and rags to remove lichen and mud from the stones. The 2.5-acre site sits near Sandy Boulevard and Interstate 5, providing a quiet workspace despite the surrounding traffic. Volunteers worked to maintain the appearance of the plots for future visitors and family members.

Jessica Rojas, a lead on Metro’s community education and stewardship team, said the organization aims to make the practice of caring for deceased relatives feel more routine. She noted that the cemetery, which opened in 1877, contains the remains of early European settlers who died during the Oregon Trail. Rojas stated that the goal is to ensure the grounds look cared for when families visit.

The initiative has grown substantially since its start four years ago. Rojas reported that early events attracted only a handful of attendees. The Halloween gathering represented a marked increase in public participation, with Sophia Butler driving from West Linn and bringing more than a dozen friends and family members to help.

Butler said she organized the group to teach her children how to maintain public spaces. She expressed surprise at the amount of vandalism found in cemeteries, particularly around the Halloween season. Her seven-year-old son, Osric, described the activity as a treasure hunt. He said the 46-degree air made him cold at first, but the physical work of scrubbing and picking up trash warmed him up.

James Allman, a volunteer who has attended two previous cleanups, knelt on the damp grass to locate buried markers. He used the metal pole of a flag to probe the soil and then carefully dug with a butter knife to avoid scratching the stone. Allman, whose father-in-law is buried in another Metro-managed historic cemetery, called the work necessary. He said that if volunteers did not perform the maintenance, no one else would.

Jorden Corona, who has a personal interest in historic burial plots and Victorian grieving rituals, joined the effort to learn proper care techniques. She said she had previously wanted to help but was concerned about making mistakes or being disrespectful. Corona described the cemetery as a peaceful place where she spends much of her time.

The Columbia Pioneer Cemetery is one of 14 historic sites managed by Metro. Some monuments in the grounds are over 100 years old and may lack living relatives to tend them. Other headstones were installed as recently as last year. The mix of ages requires consistent maintenance to preserve the inscriptions and structural integrity of the markers.

Volunteers focused on removing soil that had accumulated over years, burying some markers under inches of dirt. The team worked to expose these stones so they could be properly cleaned. The effort involved both delicate cleaning of the surfaces and the physical labor of digging out obscured historical records.

Metro will hold its next cemetery tending event at Multnomah Park Cemetery on Friday, November 13, 2026. The organization continues to schedule these sessions to maintain the historic grounds across the region.