Cities and counties all around Georgia are remembering 9/11 in unique ways this weekend. Sunday will be the fifteenth anniversary of the tragic event.
A weekend long event has been going on in Kennesaw, which kicked off with a concert on Friday night featuring the band Time Bandits. Saturday featured a flag processional at 10 a.m., and on Sunday, there will be a memorial service at Kennesaw Mountain at 8 a.m.
In Marietta, there will be a memorial stair climb which will also include a fire truck pull competition, a bounce house and lots of food. Participants in the event, which starts Sunday at 11 a.m., will climb 110 stories of an office building to remember those who lost their lives trying to save others during the tragedy.
There will also be a stair climb in Dunwoody that will benefit and remember emergency response personnel in New York.
The Cobb County Fire and Emergency Services Headquarters will be flying a flag that once flew at the World Trade Center. The flag was retired in May of 2002 and was given to Cobb County by retired New York fireman Danny Fink. The flag, which flew during the attacks, will fly through Sunday.
At Barber Elementary School in Acworth, Timothy Miller, who often sings “God Bless America” at Braves games, will sing the National Anthem and a speech will be given by a World Trade Center first responder at around 9 a.m.
On Friday, a remembrance ceremony was held in downtown Augusta, which included a moment of silence and a presentation of the flag. Tony Kennelly, who lost his brother-in-law during the attacks said he will never forget 9/11.
“My sister-in-law got a cell phone call from him that he was on the way,” Kennelly told WFXG. “It was an accident at that time. He was on his way there and said he’d check in when he got done. So, we were like everyone else in the world, glued to a TV. Unfortunately, we got to watch it live on TV with everyone else.”
In Valdosta, there was a wreath-laying ceremony to commemorate 9/11. The event also included speeches from city leaders as well as fire fighters and police officers. On Sunday, there will be a short ceremony including a moment of silence, prayer and ringing of the fire bell.
“This shows the wound is still open,” Ethan Arguello, a Lowndes County resident told the Valdosta Daily Times. “It will never close, but we will always be here to pay our respects.”
All of the sentiments are a comforting reminder that, unlike the controversial couple that attended Dragon Con in a Twin Towers costume, people all across the country are still paying their respects and honoring the many lives that were lost during a national tragedy.
