MOUNT DORA, Fla. — Mount Dora’s inaugural Memorial Day service started like many others across Central Florida Monday: a rendition of the National Anthem, followed by Taps.
It was what happened after organizers laid a wreath that made the event stand out.
Instead of observing the field of American flags next to grave sites at the Pine Forest, attendees were asked to plant the flags themselves.
It was made possible by a project from Scouting America Troop 19, which helped with a wreath-laying ceremony a few years ago and struggled to find each service member’s grave.
“You could barely tell where anyone was. It was all mixed together. The lines were messed up,” Patrol Leader Evan Hartney recalled. “So we decided to fix it.”
That meant two weeks of painstaking work creating a grid pattern for the cemetery and re-labeling each grave.
On Monday, they got to see their work pay off as audience members picked up white flags placed at each veteran’s grave site and replaced them with American flags.
“It made me feel good about all our hard work being… done for something,” Vann Camp said.
Organizers said they were already preparing for the event to return for its second year in 2026.
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