"Vintage Voices" Tours Highlight Late Altonians' Legacies
The 24th annual Vintage Voices tours start this weekend at Alton City Cemetery.
Our Daily Show Interview! Vintage Voices Starts This Weekend!
Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
ALTON - Alton’s famous Vintage Voices tours will start this weekend.
Planned for Oct. 4, 5, 11 and 12, 2025, these walking tours take attendees through the cemetery to different gravestones, where an actor tells the story of the person buried there. Tours will take off every 15 minutes from 12–2:15 p.m. on those dates. There is also a non-walking performance at 5 p.m. on Oct. 5 at St. Mary’s Middle School.
“We have all walks of life who walk again,” said Diana, who helps oversee the Vintage Voices steering committee. “Our mission is to keep history alive.”
The Vintage Voices organization has hosted tours for 24 years now. This year, they began preparing for the tours in April by researching Altonians buried in the cemetery.
Lacy, who serves on the steering committee and manages the Hayner Genealogy and Local History Library, compiled as much information on these decedents as possible alongside her team at the library. They then shared this information with the actors, who wrote their scripts and rehearsed with the directors.
While the decedents always have fascinating stories, Diana and Lacy are especially excited to see the portrayal of Six Triple Eight veteran Dorothy Scott. They’re also intrigued by Cary Waples’s story; Waples was a World War I lieutenant. They encourage people to come out to learn more about these people with ties to Alton.
“We have some really interesting stories,” Diana said. “There are hundreds of stories in that cemetery.”
Diana and Lacy also noted that not every person has a major “famous” story. Many of these people lived relatively “small” lives, but they still had a big impact on the Riverbend region and left impressive legacies.
“When you’re looking at people's lives to this degree, you see how one person can make a difference,” Lacy said. “That’s one of the biggest parts for me, seeing the work that somebody puts in and then how that affected the area and, a lot of times, how it’s still affecting us now…You can start to feel like, does what I do matter? And then you get to see it matter in all these people’s lives.”
Tickets to the Vintage Voices tours cost $15. You can purchase tickets online or with cash at the gate. For more information about Vintage Voices, visit their official Facebook page.
More like this:
- Most Popular
- Top Stories
- Most Recent
