FREDERICKSBURG, VA - Recent press coverage stating that the annual Illumination of the Fredericksburg National Cemetery will take place this year is not correct. The annual event has been cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic.
The coverage promoted a virtual, remote observance of Memorial Day, which is being hosted by the City of Fredericksburg.
While we encourage residents and visitors to engage with the City of Fredericksburg’s efforts to mark Memorial Day with a virtual observance, we ask no one to come to the National Cemetery with the expectation of experiencing the Illumination, traditionally held on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend.
Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park has also cancelled its History at Sunset series for the summer of 2020. Limits on the size of public gatherings render these programs unsafe-History at Sunset programs routinely attract audiences of more than 100 visitors.
The NPS hopes to resume these annual traditions in 2021, circumstances permitting.
About the park. Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields Memorial National Military Park (NMP) includes the sites of four major battles spanning eighteen crucial months of the Civil War. The battles caused more than 100,000 casualties. The constant presence of armies left Fredericksburg and the surrounding agricultural landscape devastated and ended bondage for thousands of enslaved people in the region. The park is the second largest military park in the world. Learn more at www.nps.gov/frsp, and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
Tags: fredericksburg cemetery illumination fredericksburg national cemetery covid19
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
