The participatory and family-friendly event will commemorate the nearly 400 black citizens of Hagerstown who were buried at Halfway African American Cemetery between 1897 and 1933, including fifteen military veterans of the Civil War and World War I. A brass quintet will provide live music, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address will be read, and attendees will be invited to place flowers at the cemetery’s headstones during the program. Cemetery descendants will be among those making brief remarks. The Decoration Day ceremony recalls the origins of Memorial Day at the end of the Civil War, when formerly enslaved people honored fallen Union soldiers. This soon became a national practice, named for the decoration of graves with flowers. The burial ground in Halfway has been under restoration for the past six years. Prior to that, for many decades, it was forgotten, overgrown, and inaccessible from any street. It is now open to visitors daily during daylight hours.