BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Green-Wood Cemetery is
bringing back an interactive
memorial honoring those
who died from COVID-19. “We
Remember: A Community
COVID Memorial” will live
at the storied burial ground
along 200 feet of the old
wrought-iron gates at Fifth
Avenue and 25th Street for
nearly three weeks starting
June 8.
“All of us at Green-Wood
have seen, fi rsthand, the toll
that COVID-19 has taken on
family, friends, our community
and even our industry,”
graveyard president Richard
Moylan announced Friday.
COURIER L 10 IFE, JUNE 4-10, 2021
“This beautiful living memorial
gives us a special place to
remember what they meant
to us and how they each made
this world a better place.”
The project is in collaboration
with artist-activist group
Naming the Lost Memorials,
who set up a similar shrine at
the height of the outbreak last
year in an effort to humanize
a soaring death toll beyond
the statistics.
As the coronavirus ravaged
the city, the 19th-century
cemetery other fi nal resting
places in the borough grappled
with a surge in burials and
cremations and were forced to
cap the number of bodies they
An interactive memorial to those who died from COVID-19 returns to Green-Wood Cemetery on June 8.
Erik McGregor
could receive each day.
A year later, as case numbers
are on the decline and
New Yorkers are getting vaccinated,
it’s crucial to remember
the hundreds of thousands
who have perished from the virus
— including a total 33,199
in the Five Boroughs as of
Friday — noted one folklorist
working on the installation.
“Even as New Yorkers begin
to feel the joys of opening,
the pandemic rages on in other
parts of the world,” said Kay
Turner. “It’s not over. Nor is
the sense of loss we feel knowing
that 600,000 of our loved
ones in the United States are
gone from us. Mourning and
remembrance are still necessary
acts.”
The group gathered contributions
from more than 20
community organizations and
members of the public can add
their own tributes to the fence
once the installation launches
next month.
Opening night will start at
6 pm with a procession beginning
at the corner of Fifth Avenue
and 31st Street before heading
to the meadow inside main
entrance at 25th Street for a
drum call, poetry, and making
of memorial name plates.
A dedication will follow
and at 8 pm there will be music
and candles at the site, according
to the burial ground’s
staff.
PAYING
TRIBUTE
COVID-19 memorial returns
to Green-Wood Cemetery
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