The Des Moines Memorial Drive Preservation Association will be holding its annual Memorial Day observance on Monday, May 26, 2025, starting at 11 a.m.

This will be held at the old Sunnydale Elementary School building located at the corner of South 156^th Street and Des Moines Memorial Drive (DMMD; map below). There is parking on both sides of the school.

The American Legion will present the colors. Chris Plyman, American Legion Historian, will present a program on the history of Memorial Day.

This year Kate Bysheim, former soprano soloist at Northwest Chorale, Seattle Pro Musica and University Unitarian Church will perform the National Anthem. The Burien American Legion Post 134 will form the Honor Guard.

“We look forward to welcoming you and visiting with you at our on-site museum,” organizers said.

The original DMMD was lined with elms to remember WWI fallen. Planted 100 years ago, they have fallen to disease and urbanization. There is little room today for that elm tree-lined tribute. Subsequently, organizers have turned to creating art projects to memorialize the fallen.

Among them:

A few years ago, a story board designed by Andrew Jenner, an Eagle Scout, was placed in Miller Creek Park near South 146^thStreet and DMMD. It will be re-installed when the current construction is complete.
Doughboy emblems, designed by Conner Lundeen, also an Eagle Scout, were placed on either side of the granite memorial at Sunnydale School.
Signal boxes at major intersections were covered with WWI poster art.
On Memorial Day the new DMMD story board will be included when the City of Des Moines holds a ribbon cutting for the new flag plaza near the north end of the city.
Organizers are also working on a historical timeline of the efforts to create a “ living road of remembrance” from the 1920s to today.

“We love working on these projects.

“We invite you to come and join our observance. We would love to see you there.”

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