Jeff Pettit. (Sentinel-Tribune file)
MILLBURY — A car show that was started to raise money to put a wreath on every veteran’s grave in Lake Township Cemetery over Christmas will be named after the man who founded the event.
The Jeff Pettit Memorial Car Show will be held May 28 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at Friendship Park, 27975 Cummings Road. The rain date is May 29.
Pettit, a former Lake Township trustee, died Jan. 19 after a cancer battle.
He started the Lake Township Wreaths Across America movement in 2016, said Ken Gilsdorf, who is chair of the Lake Township Trustees and volunteers with Wreaths Across America.
“We didn’t get that many the first year, but then every year it climbed and climbed and climbed,” he said.
Last year, $17,000 was raised, Gilsdorf said.
Pettit was the owner and operator of Artistic Memorials, which he started in 2002.
Gilsdorf said that Pettit’s cemetery work was the impetus for getting involved in Wreaths Across America.
“He said he was in cemeteries all the time and he saw where a lot of veterans didn’t have anything at all, especially Civil War,” Gilsdorf said. “Around Christmas time, you can see it … a lot of them will have decorations on them. You go to Civil War and there ain’t nothing.”
It is $17 to sponsor a wreath.
In 2023, 260,000 sponsored veterans’ wreaths will be needed to ensure every eligible marker in the cemetery receives a wreath on National Wreaths Across America Day, according to the national group.
Wreaths Across America is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded to continue and expand the annual wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery begun in 1992. The organization’s mission – Remember, Honor, Teach – is carried out in part each year by coordinating wreath-laying ceremonies in December at Arlington, as well as thousands of veterans’ cemeteries and other locations in all 50 states and beyond.
Registration for the car show is $10. There will be door prizes, raffles and food available for purchase. Cruisin Zeake, who will do a Memorial Day tribute to all veterans at noon, will do the music.
Walbridge VFW Post 9963 will offer breakfast from 7-10:30 a.m. with proceeds benefiting Wreaths Across America.
To donate, contact Gilsdorf at 419-350-7947 or visit www.cruisinzeake.com.
