Actors portray the dead to promote cemetery

PEORIA, Ill., Oct. 20 (UPI) -- An Illinois cemetery is attempting to draw potential customers by having actors put on shows portraying some of the people buried at the cemetery.

Mark Matzuak, general manager of Springdale Cemetery in Peoria, said actors from the Prairie Folklore Theater dressed as some of the cemetery's permanent residents and put on four shows at the cemetery in early October.

"They come in, dress up like people who are buried there, and basically perform their life," Matzuak told the Peoria Journal Star.

Bob Manning, chairman of the Springdale Cemetery Management Authority, said the goal is to entice visitors to purchase plots.

"We know if we get people back into the cemetery, they're going to be amazed at its beauty," Manning said. "Then, hopefully, they'll think of us when time comes."

The cemetery will also host a glow-in-the-dark Screaming Pumpkin Race Oct. 25. The race will involve costumed participants running a 26.2-mile, 6.55-mile or 5k distance through the cemetery after dark along a course marked by 5,000 glow sticks. Starting times are left up to the participants and the runner who finishes closest to midnight without going over will be declared the winner.