Thursday, November 21, 2019

Forest Lawn holiday production canceled


The Forest Lawn holiday season production of “It WAS a Wonderful Life” has been canceled due to a natural disaster within St. Matthew’s Cemetery in West Seneca.
The production of “It WAS a Wonderful Life” has been a Forest Lawn tradition since 2012. This production consists of some of the cemetery’s permanent residents giving musical and comical glimpses of Christmases past, when they were alive. The production typically runs from the end of November through December. All shows for this season have been canceled.
A statement issued by Forest Lawn Group of Cemeteries said, “A portion of the St. Matthew’s property collapsed into bordering Cayuga Creek, threatening the sanctity of more than 200 burials, which were at risk of falling into the creek.”
 The precautions taken to save burial sites and relocate others were estimated to $600,000 to date.
Refunds for already purchased tickets are available and Forest Lawn intends to re-install this holiday tradition in 2020.
Forest Lawn is also known for various walking and trolley tours. These tours range from architecture, and famous residents to historical Civil war tours. These tours are still instituted seasonally. By Bethany Clancy and Kristina DiBlasio