It’s been 20 years since 9/11. Here’s how Fresno-area organizations are honoring the day

Saturday marks the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York City, Virginia and Pennsylvania and set the heroism of the country’s first responders on the national stage.

“Twenty years effectively is a generation,” says Anna Borgeas, executive director of the California 9-11 Memorial in Clovis, the largest permanent, dedicated monument to the 9/11 attacks outside of New York City.

Students graduating high school this year are living in a world changed by 9/11, an event that happened before they were born.

“Time fades memories, but this event and what it meant, not just to Americans but to the world, it’s something that we live every day,” Borgeas says.

That is at the very heart of the purpose of the memorial: “To never forget.”

“If we don’t keep that alive after 20 years, then who will?” Borgeas says.

Each year, the California 9-11 Memorial hosts a remembrance event with a bagpipe procession, full gun salute and laying of wreaths. The event starts at 8:46 a.m, the East Coast time when the first 911 call went out in 2001. This year, the Clovis event will be live streamed on the California 9-11 Memorial Facebook page for those unable to attend in person.

Following the event, the memorial will announce the winners of this year’s One Voice Spirit of 9/12 student art and poetry contest. Two grand prize winners, and their teachers, will be flown to see the national 9/11 memorial in New York.

This year also marks an expansion for the memorial and several new pieces will be on display Saturday: a Flight 93 memorial and three new bronze statues; they depict a wounded warrior, a military officer holding a flag and police officer Moira Smith, who was the first to call in the attack to headquarters on Sept. 11.

Also on display during Saturday’s event will be a sapling taken from the Survivor Tree. The tree, a Callery pear, was saved from the rubble at Ground Zero. The sapling was gifted to the memorial in 2020 and will eventually be planted on site, Borgeas says.

It is a great representation for the memorial because it is an example of survivor-ship within the tragedy.

“You can see where the devastation hit the tree. And you can see what grew back in its place.”

Here are some other ways the 20th anniversary is being commemorated around Fresno.

Valley Hero’s Parade

The Kiwanis Club of Fresno is hosting a Valley Heroes Parade, beginning at 11 a.m. at Woodward Park in Fresno. The event celebrates the valley’s law enforcement, first responders and veterans, and remembers those who lost their lives on 9/11. Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer will serve as grand marshal.

Fresno State to give recognition at football game

Fresno State will fly its national and state flags at half-staff Saturday in honor of Patriot Day and the National Day of Service and Remembrance.

It also has several tributes planned at Bulldog Stadium as part of the the football team’s game against Cal Poly.

The first row of Section 25 at will be left empty as a tribute to those who died, and the team will wear special tribute uniforms.

The game starts at 7 p.m. Active duty, military veterans and first responders can purchase tickets online for $10. Fans can also donate a $10 ticket to military and first responders. Fresno State will match those. donations.

Two Fresno State alumni were killed in the 9/11 attacks: Navy Lt. Col. Otis Vincent Tolbert Jr and Todd Beamer.

Tolbert, a Lemoore native who played football for the Bulldogs, was killed when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon.

Beamer, a physical therapy major and walk-on baseball player in 1987-88, died when United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. Beamer led the passengers in trying to overtake the hijackers.

Both are memorialized on campus in the Peace Garden and at the Save Mart Center.

Across the campus, the new Kennel Marketplace store at The Square at Campus Pointe will honor first responders as part of its grand opening weekend. Several law enforcement agencies and the Fresno Fire Department will be onsite on the north side parking lot of the store from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Madera, Clovis coummunity colleges

Madera Community College hosts its Sept. 11 commemoration on Thursday with a breakfast for firefighters followed by a flag pole ceremony. The breakfast begins at 8:30 a.m. with the ceremony starting at 10.

There will be a presentation of colors, the playing of taps and a moment of silence along with words from Sgt. Rick Jimenez, whose birthday is September 11, the same day he received orders to drill instructor duty.

Madera Community College is at 30277 Ave. 12 in Madera.

Clovis Commuity College meanwhile, is focusing on Sept. 11 as the National Day of Service and Remembrance, with an event starting noon Friday, near the flagpole on campus. Mark Standriff, the Director of Beautify Fresno, will be the guest speaker.

Beautify Fresno is a community-based cleanup and beautification effort.

The event will also be livestreamed via the college’s Facebook page.

Veterans Peace Memorial

Fresno City College is holding a remembrance ceremony 9 a.m. Friday in front of its Veterans Peace Memorial, near the corner of Weldon and College avenues.

The ceremony will include the playing of bagpipes by FCC instructor Scott Porteous, the presentation of colors, a wreath laying, a poetry reading by student (and veteran) Ernesto Grijalva, the singing of God Bless America by Julie Dana, a rifle salute and the playing of Taps by Rodger Lopez.

The event’s keynote speaker is FCC alumnus Richard Reyes, who began serving in the U.S. Marine Corp just days after September 11, 2001.

Fresno City fire cadets attend ceremonies in New York

The Fresno City College Fire Academy is sending 27 of its cadets to New York to visit the 9/11 Memorial and Museum and take part in the 20th Anniversary Commemoration parade and ceremony. During the five-day trip they also plan to see the Statue of Liberty and tour the New York Fire Department training facility.

‘343’ burpee challenge

There were 343 firefighters who died while working to save people in the wake of the attacks and the collapse of New York’s Twin Towers. The Fresno Fire Department honors that number each year with a physical challenge.

The firefighters look to complete 343 burpees, one for each life lost. Burpees are a grueling squat thrust exercise long used to test fitness in the military and also popularized in the Crossfit movement.

The event, which raises money for the Fallen Firefighter Fund, happens 9 a.m. at Fire Station No. 3. You can register online.

This story was originally published September 8, 2021 at 2:55 PM.