Memorial Day 2024

Let Us Not Forget Those Who Gave So Much

It’s Memorial Day once again…the official start of summer with backyard picnics and weekends at the beach. Originally called Decoration Day and established after the Civil War, Memorial Day wasn’t declared a National Holiday until 1971. But whether in its original incarnation of Decoration Day or its current version as Memorial Day, the focus has been to commemorate the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces, especially those who died in battle or as a result of wounds sustained while fighting for our collective freedom. In other words, the purpose of Memorial Day is to memorialize the veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

While I think it’s apparent to all our customers that Imbue Botanicals grows and processes all of our products in Colorado, some of you may not know that our offices are actually located in beautiful Palm Springs, California. We are located just off the main runway for the Palm Springs International Airport which serves as a major transportation hub for our busy vacation destination.

I first moved to Palm Springs in the winter of 1997, just 4 months after the Palm Springs Air Museum opened its two original hangars to the public. Located directly across the airport field from Imbue, the Palm Springs Air Museum capitalizes on the history of the Palm Springs Airport and it’s use a major aviation and pilot training center during World War II. Over the past quarter of a century, the museum has grown, and now contains over 71 vintage airframes from World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, including the F-117 Nighthawk that joined the collection in 2022.

At 1pm local time this Memorial Day, like so many previous Memorial Days, a vintage World War II era B-25 bomber will drop 3000 red and white carnations representing the fallen soldiers of the U.S. wars. War World II era planes fly the "missing man" formation during Memorial Day celebrations preceding the carnation drop.

The white carnations represent those who fought before and in WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam, while the red are for those who died in more recent conflicts, including the Persian Gulf, Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan. It’s truly a stunningly-vivid and spectacular reminder of the reason we actually celebrate Memorial Day.

Even though this Memorial Day finds me in a different country a long way away from beautiful Palm Springs, my thoughts are of those brave Americans who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our Nation…and for all of us.  And for my coworkers in Palm Springs, it’s a foregone conclusion they’ll remember when they hear the roar of the World War II planes flying overhead and see the red and white carnations shower down to the tarmac below.

So from all of us at Imbue Botanicals… a very Happy Memorial Day 2024.

With all our best,

Imbue