Over the last three decades, more than 95,000 people have witnessed local history come to life at the annual Evergreen Cemetery Walk.

What began as a single Saturday event with two school days of performances in 1995 quickly blossomed into a full-fledged historical theater event, annually serving more than 3,000 people over the course of eight days.

Year after year, attendees experience a professional theatrical performance that illustrates the significant impact people from McLean County have had on local, national, and international history. In total, the Walk has featured 211 unique individuals, some of whom are well remembered, but many who would otherwise be long forgotten.

For a character to be featured, Museum staff and volunteers spend hundreds of hours pouring over primary source documents and combing through the archives to gather enough research to complete a biography and script for the person. Click here to access and explore all 211 biographies from Cemetery Walks past.

To then bring their stories to life, actors and directors practice for months, tour guides go through extensive training, Cemetery staffers prepare the grounds, and Museum staff works to ensure that it all goes off without a hitch. 

The Evergreen Cemetery Walk is truly a labor of love. However, rising costs, diminishing resources, actor availability, and changing audience needs have led us to the difficult decision to make this year the grand finale of the Evergreen Cemetery Walk. 

We are not alone in facing these challenges. Our partner, Illinois Voices Theatre-Echoes, will be disbanding after this season for similar reasons, and the Museum cannot manage this event on our own.

We are very grateful for the theater’s partnership over time and are proud of what we’ve accomplished together; not only with the theater but with all of our community partners. None of this would be possible without the unwavering support of Evergreen Memorial Cemetery’s staff and trustees, or the 503 incredible volunteers who have given over 34,000 hours to the Walk. Over the past 30 years, support from our sponsors and Museum members have made it possible for tens of thousands of students to experience the Walk each and every year – in fact, two of those students now work at the Museum. 

All of these people have had a hand in creating the legacy of the Evergreen Cemetery Walk, which speaks for itself. We want to go out on a high note this year, honoring that legacy. 

We will collect memories from this Walk and Walks past in the coming months. We hope you will join us in celebrating this monumental (pun intended) occasion by sharing your memories on social media using the #cemwalkmems, emailing them to education@mchistory.org, and of course, by coming out to the cemetery during those first two weekends in October.

Please know that this is not goodbye. As we shift into a new era at the Museum, there will be even more opportunities to engage with y(our) history. We are actively working to develop new innovative programming to meet the community’s needs today, just as we did 30 years ago. 

The Museum will always champion the preservation of our local history. We will always collaborate with our community partners to make history accessible for all. And most importantly, we will never leave the legacy of the Cemetery Walk behind. It is a piece of history in its own right, whose influence will continue for many years to come, all while we create new ways to preserve and share the past. 

Please join us for the Grand Finale of the Evergreen Cemetery Walk happening October 5-6 & 12-13, with performances at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. each day. Tickets go on sale September 10 online at mchistory.org, and in person at the Museum or Evergreen Memorial Cemetery.