Bay Church & Cemetery Hosting Decoration Day Program

The Bay Church and Cemetery near Delhi will be celebrating an important piece of Delaware County’s history on Friday evening.

It’s the annual re-enactment of the first Decoration Day program. May 30th is known as Decoration Day – it was established three years after the Civil War ended on May 5th, 1868. Bob Sack, secretary of the Upper Bay Cemetery Association, says the purpose was for the nation to decorate, with flowers, the graves of all the men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country during wartime.

The Decoration Day program will be held in the shadow of Iowa’s first Civil War monument. It was created to honor fifteen soldiers from the area who gave their lives, though many others from Delaware County and the state of Iowa lost their lives as well.

Letters from some of those local Civil War soldiers will be read during the program.

Sack says Friday evening’s program will follow the original Decoration Day program from 1865.

The Decoration Day program will take place at Bay Church and Cemetery five miles southwest of Delhi at 2131 275th Street. 

Everyone is welcome. He encourages everyone to come as you are, bring your lawn chairs – and bring your children too.

Friday’s Decoration Day program will begin at 5:30 pm. Afterwards, everyone is invited to take a tour of the historic Bay Church and enjoy fellowship and refreshments.

photo courtesy of Bay Church & Cemetery