Historic Belle Passi Pioneer Cemetery on Memorial Day. The “Avenue of Flags” display contains nearly 300 burial flags. The cemetery is one of Oregon’s oldest at 174 years. American Legion Post 46 hosts the ceremony. Past events have featured the post’s Color Guard, a reading of the names of local veterans, musical performances, a rifle salute and a flyover. Since 2025 the event has been informal with food and drinks, but still retaining the dramatic military flyover.
The above Civil War-era soldier statue, seen on a previous Memorial Day at the cemetery, is nicknamed “Otis.” On Decoration Day, 1911, the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), the largest of all Union veterans’ organizations and the most powerful in the country) commissioned this monument. Erected at the cemetery in 1919, it was restored and rededicated in 2001 and then again in 2025 following damage from a 2020 ice storm. The statue honors the 72 Union Army veterans of the Civil War who are buried in the cemetery.
