It was a beautiful and moving sight on Sunday when a fleet of trucks left Columbia Falls, Maine with 248,000 wreaths in tow. The convoy of box trucks and tractor-trailers was headed for Arlington National Cemetery as part of Wreaths Across America, an initiative that adorns the gravesites of the fallen with homemade greenery every year.
According to the Associated Press, five stops were made in Maine communities on Sunday, including in Portland, where Maine first lady Ann LePage joined in to help load up the trucks. They are continuing south on Monday to make other stops, where no doubt veterans and thankful citizens will be on hand to contribute. The convoy is expected to arrive in Arlington, Virginia on Saturday.
Wreaths Across America began in 1992, when Morrill Worcester – who owned the Worcester Wreath Company in Harrington, Maine – found that he had thousands of extra wreaths he couldn't sell. He didn't want them to go to waste, so he reached out to Olympia Snowe, the U.S. Senator, who helped Worcester to deliver the wreaths to Arlington.
For years the tradition flew under the radar, no more than a quiet show of respect and a sign that the country had not forgotten, but in 2005 photos of snow-covered balsam wreaths leaning on graves became popular online. It wasn't long before community leaders reached out to Worcester for wreaths to adorn their own cemeteries and donors sought to help expand the scope of the project.
The initiative has come a long way in the last decade. Maine's local WMTW reported that Wreaths Across America predicts they will ship over 900,000 wreaths to hundreds of places, including all 50 states and even some cemeteries overseas.