Inside a grand, new two-story building at Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis, a book group gathered this week.
It was an unusual place for friends to meet and discuss their latest long read. But book groups, concerts and other casual gatherings are some of the nontraditional uses that cemetery leaders are encouraging in Lakewood's new eco-friendly Welcome Center, celebrated with a ribbon cutting Wednesday afternoon.
With office space for cemetery staff, the new center will serve as a modern place for people to make final arrangements, complete with video calling to include loved ones who live far away. But Lakewood officials said they also want it to feel like it's part of the community, and they hope it will help make death a little less taboo.
"We want to change the narrative around how people view death," cemetery President Chris Makowske said. "We want a place like Lakewood to be able to do that and be a place of remembrance."
The modern 25,000-square-foot building with narrow columns and stone-tiled walls sits at the entrance of the sprawling cemetery on W. 36th Street and Hennepin Avenue, on the shores of Lake Harriet and Bde Maka Ska.
The building is expected to receive "net zero" certification with its geothermal system and rooftop solar panels. Makowske declined to disclose its price tag.
Molly Rice of Edina came to the ribbon cutting Wednesday to get her first glimpse of the building's sleek interior community space, with its tall windows and high ceiling open to a second-floor balcony. She said she has been going to Lakewood a couple times a year for 45 years, ever since her brother died of a brain aneurysm at age 10.
"I love that they're opening their doors and inviting people in," Rice said. "This building is so much more in tune with serving families."
The building replaces a 1920s-era administration building, which will be repurposed, officials have said.
While space in the center can't be reserved by outside groups, community members are welcome to wander in, said Julia Gillis, the cemetery's director of marketing and outreach: "This Welcome Center is our way of saying 'You are welcomed here.'"
Madison Roth is a University of Minnesota student reporter on assignment for the Star Tribune.
