September 11 Community Remembrance

Join us for the September 11 Community Remembrance ceremony on Friday, September 9 at 12:30 p.m. in Courthouse Square Park in Rockville. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and the ceremony is planned as a time for remembrance and tribute to the victims, their families, emergency responders and members of the military.

The program will include remarks by a family member of one of the Montgomery County victims, and musical selections by the Montgomery County Police Gospel Choir will complete the program. Members of Montgomery County’s Fire and Rescue Services (MCFRS) and the Montgomery County and City of Rockville Police will also participate. The MCFRS Pipe and Drum Corps will perform.

The “Memorial to the Events of 9/11/01” park designed by Gene and Susan Flores of Plainfield, MA, consists of 11 benches, each dedicated to one of the lost Montgomery County residents. Each bench is engraved with lines from a poem, song or thought selected by family members, and the victim’s signature is inscribed in stainless steel on the end of their bench. At one corner of the park, a pavilion stands housing a plaque bearing the names of the 11 victims who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks. Each year on September 11, from approximately 9:15 to 10:50 a.m., sunlight passes through a lens in the roof of the structure to highlight each of the 11 names.

An interfaith prayer service will be held on Sunday, September 11 at 3 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Rockville, located at 100 Welsh Park Drive. The service is open to the public and to all faith groups, churches, mosques, synagogues and temples, as well as secular groups. For more information about the interfaith prayer service, call Rev. Lynn Strauss at 301-762-7666.

For more information about the memorial park or the ceremony, call Judy Stiles in the Department of Recreation, at 240-777-6875.