Harry Burgess, Leavenworth, uses a buffer on his sailboat Our

The Memorial Day weekend will offer Lawrence residents opportunities for somber reflection as well as the joyful greeting of the unofficial start of summer.

Oak Hill Cemetery, 1605 Oak Hill Ave., Maple Grove Cemetery at the intersection of U.S. Highways 24 and 40, and Memorial Park Cemetery, 1517 E. 15th St., will be open to visitors from dusk to dawn during the holiday weekend, said Lawrence Parks and Recreation park supervisor Mitch Young. Park staff will be available to answer questions from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Sunday and Monday at the Oak Hill Cemetery maintenance shop, 1605 Oak Hill Ave. The city’s online searchable cemetery map can be found at gis.lawrenceks.org/flexviewers/cemetery. A video with instructions of how to use the map to find plots and burial information can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFyTeFh1_is.

Lawrence’s American Legion Dorsey-Liberty Post 14 will hold a Memorial Day ceremony at 10 a.m. Monday at Oak Hill Cemetery. The ceremony will include bagpipe music, a flyover by local pilots and words from City Commissioner Mike Amyx and local veterans. In the event of rain, the ceremony will be at the post building, 3408 W. Sixth St.

The American Legion post also is using the Memorial Day holiday to promote enhanced flag disposal services for the public. The post has installed a new drop-off box for people who want to leave an American flag for the post to properly dispose of. The box is outside the front entrance to the post and can be accessed 24 hours a day.

The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War will place flags on the graves of Union Civil War veterans in Oak Hill, Maple Grove and Pioneer cemeteries, starting at 8:30 a.m. in Oak Hill Cemetery.

Holiday trips

The American Automobile Association is predicting a local and national spike in holiday travel this weekend. According to an AAA press release, 3.3 million people will hit the road for trips of 50 miles or longer in Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, Nebraska and North and South Dakota. That would be a 2.1 percent increase in such trips from last year, AAA reports.

Clinton Lake State Park is already seeing evidence of a spike in holiday travel, said Sherri Withers, administrative specialist with the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. The 200 recreational vehicle campsites equipped for utility hookups in Clinton Lake State Park are rapidly filling up, she said. Half of the sites are offered on a first-come, first-served basis, and the other half can be reserved. Withers said as of early Tuesday afternoon, only 19 of the 200 sites were available, and she expected all of them to be claimed before the weekend starts.

“We are already very busy,” she said. “We normally don’t get this busy for Memorial Day until Thursday or Friday.”

There are still plenty of campsites without utilities available for the weekend, Withers said.

The situation is much the same at the Army Corps of Engineers campsites, said Samantha Jones, Corps natural resource manager at Clinton Lake. She said the 186 RV sites equipped for utility hookups were already filled for the weekend.

As at the state park, there are plenty of campsites without utilities available, Jones said.

The Corps campsite is vulnerable to flooding when the lake level rises, Jones said. But there’s no danger of that this weekend, she said, as Clinton Lake’s water level was 877.4 feet on Tuesday, or just a couple inches above normal for this time of year.

Making a splash

Although the season doesn’t officially change until the third week of June, few things symbolize summer more than an outdoor swimming pool. Lawrence residents will have their first chance to test the waters of the Lawrence Outdoor Aquatic Center, 737 Kentucky St., on Saturday, when it opens for the season from 1 to 8 p.m., weather permitting. Admission is $3 for children 5 to 17, $4 for adults 18 to 59 and $3 for adults 60 or older. Children under 5 get in free.

The Indoor Aquatic Center, 4706 Overland Drive, will start its summer hours on Saturday, as well. Those are 1 to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday.