Volunteers wanted to help light luminaries in Lenoir

LENOIR, NC (December 2, 2022) — The City of Lenoir’s annual luminary display at Blue Ridge Memorial Park will be Friday, Dec. 9, 2022, and staff could use some help lighting the thousands of candles in the luminaries.

Blue Ridge Memorial Park staff have been working for the past couple of weeks to fill about 8,000 bags with sand and a candle. On Friday, Dec. 9, City staff from several departments will sit a luminary on each grave in the cemetery, and lighting will start around 4:30 pm, weather permitting.

“It takes about an hour and half, or so, to light them if we have 100 people,” Cemetery Superintendent Terrence Banner said. “People who want to volunteer to help light should come to the cemetery around 4:00 pm. We start lighting around 4:30 pm. We’ll provide the lighters and point folks in the right direction.”

The Luminary Display is very popular, and people drive from all over to visit the cemetery during the event. The purpose is to remember our friends and relatives buried in the cemetery and honor their families and friends still with us.

“It’s about remembering our loved ones and providing something beautiful for them and their family and friends,” Banner said.

If it rains, the luminary display will be postponed to Friday, Dec. 16.

If people want to volunteer to help light the luminaries, go to the cemetery around 4:00 pm. Blue Ridge Memorial Park is located at 2017 Wilkesboro Boulevard NE, Lenoir, NC 28645.

In the background, Public Works staff take luminaries off a truck and place them on graves in the cemetery, Dec. 17, 2021.
A local Boy Scout gets ready to light a luminary, Dec. 17, 2021.
Luminaries shine during the luminary display last year, Dec. 17, 2021.

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