The city of Hoover will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks with its annual Patriot Day Remembrance Ceremony, followed by a Climb to Remember stair climb.
The Remembrance Ceremony, held each year on Sept. 11, will take place at 8:30 a.m. in the food court at the Galleria. It will include music from local schoolchildren and a keynote speech by Roy Sexton, vice president of corporate security at Alabama Power.
Three Hundred Forty-Three firefighters and 70 police officers lost their lives that Tuesday morning when terrorists used airplanes to attack buildings in New York and Washington, D.C., and another plane was crashed in a rural area of Pennsylvania.
According to city officials, event organizers wanted to do something special this year to honor the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
“I am always humbled when I do a stair climb and think about what those men and women were going through before they died,” Hoover Fire Chief Clay Bentley said in a release. “We want to do this to memorialize and remember the lives lost.”
The Climb to Remember stair climb will include participants walking stairs the equivalent of the 110 stories that had been in the World Trade Center’s twin towers. It will take place in the north parking deck of the mall, and participants will have the opportunity to wear a lanyard with a picture and name to honor a fallen first responder from 9/11 as they climb.
“When we think of 9/11, we say, ‘Never forget’ and by having this, we all remember the sacrifices people gave to their city that day,” Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis said. “These were people who were running toward the danger, not away from it. Anything we can do to remember that day is humbling — especially for police officers and firefighters.”
Participation in the stair climb is free, but donations will be accepted for the Hoover Public Safety Charity Foundation.
Those who wish to participate in the Climb to Remember can register at hooveralabama.gov. No registration is needed to attend the ceremony.
—Emily Williams-Robertshaw
