Some spectators mistook the procession around the Capitol Square for a festive occasion, thinking the horses were pulling a carriage with newlyweds. It was a much more somber event than that. The carriage was an 1800s hearse with an empty casket in the back. The mourners, about 75 of them, walked to the side in silence, some carrying candles.
This was the seventh year a group of local clergy members and others have organized a memorial service to honor people who died without shelter in Dane County and elsewhere in the past year or in recent years. It was held outside, as it is every year, regardless of temperature or snow or rain.