Lane County marks Memorial Day with ceremonies in Eugene and Springfield
Veterans Plaza and Pioneer Cemetery drew families, scouts and veterans as Lane County kept Memorial Day's oldest rituals visible in Springfield and Eugene.
About 100 people filled Veterans Plaza in Springfield and a couple hundred gathered at Eugene’s Pioneer Cemetery, where Lane County’s Memorial Day traditions stayed rooted in place through flags, salutes, flowers and the steady work of veterans’ groups, schools and families.
Springfield’s 77th annual ceremony began at 9 a.m. Monday, May 25, 2026, at Veterans Plaza in Willamalane Park, on the northeast corner of Mohawk Boulevard and I Street across from McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center. The free public observance was hosted by the City of Springfield and American Legion Post #40, with support from Willamalane Park and Recreation District, Summit Church of Springfield, Elks Lodge #2145, Emerald Armory, Boy Scouts Troop 179 and the U.S. Air Force 123rd Fighter Squadron.
The Springfield program included remarks from American Legion Post #40 Commander and Air Force veteran Nick Gillaspie, Mayor Sean VanGordon and Lane County Commissioner and Navy veteran David Loveall. Willamette Leadership Academy presented a battlefield cross display and the flag presentation, while the Springfield Elks Lodge #2145 and the Elks Emblem Club led a wreath-laying. Tom Schwetz played Taps.
VanGordon said Memorial Day was a time for the community to come together in reflection and gratitude, and the ceremony made that idea visible in the mix of veterans, civic leaders, students and scouts. The format was familiar, but the setting gave it weight: a local plaza, a public park and a neighborhood crowd keeping faith with names and sacrifices that can otherwise slip from daily memory.
Later in the morning, Eugene’s Memorial Day observance began at 11 a.m. at Pioneer Cemetery, where American Legion Post 3 has organized the program since 1930. The site, on the University of Oregon campus, remains the largest plot in Lane County with Civil War graves. It was established in 1872 and now includes 767 lots across 16 acres, with about 4,000 burials. About 10 percent of the graves belong to veterans, including 145 Civil War veterans.
The Eugene ceremony included a black powder rifle salute, bagpipe music, scout participation and handmade poppies, a memorial flower long tied to World War I remembrance. The day’s program also featured the Sons of Union Veterans in Civil War uniforms, the Korean Central Church Choir, the Eugene-Springfield Fire Department Pipes and Drum Corps and a speaker from the Sons of the American Revolution. The observance unfolded in front of the statue of Union soldier John Coval, with more than 150 heritage rose plants, many 75 to 100 years old, adding another layer of living history around the graves.
Memorial Day grew out of Civil War grave-decoration customs and was formally established by the Grand Army of the Republic in 1868. Congress made it a national holiday in 1971, to be observed on the last Monday in May, and Lane County’s ceremonies showed how that national history still depends on local hands to keep it present.
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