Music, dancing at Oakland cemetery. Yes, a cemetery
A dance party and festival was put on by the Friends of the Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland. Aug. 6, 2017
OAKLAND, Calif. - About 100 people of all shapes and sizes came out on Sunday afternoon to dance to jazz and R&B in an Oakland cemetery.
Yes, a cemetery.
Alongside graves and tombstones, Terrie Odabi and other musicians belted out tunes that had the crowd out of their seats and dancing.
It was part of the Friends of Mountain View Cemetery’s Family Music Festival On the Green, the third such summer event held on a green patch of grass at 5000 Piedmont Ave.
Some might think that a cemetery is far from the perfect place to hold a party; on Instagram, one person thought the whole idea was "creepy."
But one volunteer told KTVU that she hadn’t heard any complaints and that “everyone loved it.” And the reason that the cemetery hosts such events, she said, was so that the next generation of people will think of the cemetery as a normal place to be.
Special events coordinator Doreen Herbruger told KTVU that there are definitely some people who have found the musical festivals disrespectful. But her answer to them is that the cemetery is a family-friendly, public place to bring the community together. "It's a cemetery for the living, too," she said.
Other events put on by the foundation include the annual Tulip Extravaganza, Pumpkin Festival, and Holiday Circle of Lights.