SAN ANGELO, Texas — Flowers, flags, pictures and crosses are what you will see when you walk through Fairmount Cemetery. Each one placed gently at a gravesite and each one with a special meaning for a loved one who is buried.
If you want to make sure your items continue to stay with your loved ones, Fairmount Cemetery staff is asking family members and visitors to remove items from the graves.
"We're just asking that customers are our fans will come out and remove all the items away from the graves," Fairmount Cemetery Supervisor Jeremy Walker said. "We're looking for flowers. Any other items that we have that have been here, you know, since Valentine's Day."
The cemetery goes through these deep cleanings twice a year. The first one was Jan 15. Walker and his staff want to make sure everything gets as clean as possible to make sure everyone is safe. All 59 acres will be scrubbed, and Walker and his team will wear masks and gloves to make sure each gravesite is disinfected. Once the cemetery is cleaned, everyone can return items back to the graves.
"We're out there cleaning and the people will remove the items, you know, kind of like that they, can bring them back," he said.
The outreach of the community has been nothing but positive according to Walker. He has been getting calls asking when the clean-up will happen so people can get a head start in helping remove items.
"They understand, that we do this team twice a year. In fact, we've had phone calls from the first of June, customers asking, when do we need to remove items," Walker said.
July 10 is the final day to remove items from the cemetery. On July 15 all items will be removed. Once July 31 comes around, items not picked up will be disposed of and items removed from graves can be returned.