Bill Text: IL HR0490 | 2019-2020 | 101st General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Recognizes the 25th anniversary of the Evergreen Cemetery Walk, created to bring attention to the importance of preserving and respecting cemeteries.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2019-10-28 - Resolution Adopted [HR0490 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2019-HR0490-Introduced.html
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| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | ||||||
| 3 | Representatives wish to recognize the 25th anniversary of the | ||||||
| 4 | Evergreen Cemetery Walk, created to bring attention to the | ||||||
| 5 | importance of preserving and respecting cemeteries; and
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| 6 | WHEREAS, In 1995, an innovative educational program was | ||||||
| 7 | proposed that combined history and theater to
address the issue | ||||||
| 8 | of cemetery vandalism, particularly at Evergreen Memorial | ||||||
| 9 | Cemetery, Bloomington's oldest cemetery; the idea took form in | ||||||
| 10 | a meeting between the McLean County Museum of History and the | ||||||
| 11 | McLean
County Arts Center
and came to fruition with the | ||||||
| 12 | partnership of the Illinois Voices Theatre-Echoes and the | ||||||
| 13 | Evergreen Memorial Cemetery; and
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| 14 | WHEREAS, The Evergreen Cemetery Walk began with the mission | ||||||
| 15 | of
preventing further vandalism by teaching the community about | ||||||
| 16 | the historical importance of
cemeteries using the voices of the | ||||||
| 17 | very people who are buried there; and
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| 18 | WHEREAS, The Evergreen Cemetery Walk began as a single | ||||||
| 19 | weekend and four school days of performances; today, it serves | ||||||
| 20 | over 3,000 people each year over the course of
eight days; over | ||||||
| 21 | the past 25 years, not only has vandalism been significantly | ||||||
| 22 | reduced, but over 78,000
people have attended the event; since | ||||||
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| 1 | its inception, the
event has featured the voices of 183 | ||||||
| 2 | different people whose stories illustrate
the impact the people | ||||||
| 3 | of McLean County have had on local, national, and global | ||||||
| 4 | scales; and
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| 5 | WHEREAS, The Evergreen Cemetery Walk is an
award-winning, | ||||||
| 6 | nationally recognized interpretive program and has helped | ||||||
| 7 | start cemetery walks throughout
the country; this would not | ||||||
| 8 | have been possible without the collaboration between these | ||||||
| 9 | groups and the thousands of hours of volunteering that they, | ||||||
| 10 | along with the community, provide each year; therefore, be it
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| 11 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | ||||||
| 12 | HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
| 13 | we recognize the 25th anniversary of the Evergreen Cemetery | ||||||
| 14 | Walk, created to bring attention to the importance of | ||||||
| 15 | preserving and respecting cemeteries; and be it further
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| 16 | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | ||||||
| 17 | presented to the McLean County Museum of History, the McLean
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| 18 | County Arts Center,
the Illinois Voices Theatre-Echoes, and the | ||||||
| 19 | Evergreen Memorial Cemetery.
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