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Sept. 11

Scottsdale remembers: Week-long 9/11 tribute honors those lost

Posted 9/2/21

To mark the 20th anniversary of the attacks that took the lives of nearly 3,000 people on Sept. 11, 2001, the city of Scottsdale is hosting a free 9/11 memorial tribute.

The tribute will run …

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Sept. 11

Scottsdale remembers: Week-long 9/11 tribute honors those lost

Posted

To mark the 20th anniversary of the attacks that took the lives of nearly 3,000 people on Sept. 11, 2001, the city of Scottsdale is hosting a free 9/11 memorial tribute.

The tribute will run Sept. 3-12, at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, 7380 E. 2nd St. The center is open Tuesday-Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sundays from noon-5 p.m.

There will be a special ceremony on Sept. 11. The reading of the names of those who lost their lives begins at 1 p.m. in the atrium. The 9/11 Remembrance ceremony begins at 3 p.m. in the adjacent Virginia G. Piper Theater.

The tribute includes a pop-up museum in the center’s atrium. The exhibition features the National Unity Flag, photos and video from 9/11, and supersized props of the Twin Towers, Pentagon, plane wing and large metal flag made of steel, brass and polycarbonate.

These specially-built models will display a memorial card of every individual who lost their life on Sept. 11 in the attacks. The memorial cards were created and donated by Scottsdale resident Lisa Vella and printed and laminated by New York City resident David Jurist.

This year, the display will also feature memorial wreaths from city of Scottsdale departments, as well as other service organizations and groups. The intent of the wreaths is to honor the memory of the event as well as recognize the importance that the day is also known as a Day of Service.

“On this 20th anniversary of the horrors of 9/11, I am reminded of the selfless contributions that shaped the nations response to Americans in need,” said Scottsdale Fire Chief Tom Shannon. “Sept. 11 is now a National Day of Service. It is important that we honor those who have fallen through acts of charity and kindness. We must again bring unity through doing something good for others.”

A look back

Independent archives include a 2016 story about the making of Scottsdale’s Sept. 11 memorial props, then made to honor the 15th anniversary of 9/11.

At that time, a seven-man crew comprised of city construction workers created supersized props of the Twin Towers, Pentagon, plane wing and large metal flag — made of steel, brass and polycarbonate. The crew who made these items were responsible for 550 city facilities and 41 parks at that time.

Maintenance worker Andrew Dorame created sketches and prototypes of the items; archives report he spent several hours looking for ways to honor the fallen.

The Independent reported that the airplane wing has the names of those lost on the four airplanes; and the Pentagon and Twin Towers has the names of those lost inside the buildings.

Dorame put research, time and effort into building the props to represent those lost, he told the Independent at that time.

“The Twin Towers, we tried to have something to represent all the people that were lost there and all the actual times,” Dorame said in 2016.

“The original towers actually were a couple of feet different in height so I came up with 18-foot-4 (inches), and sixth-eighths, because the first tower went down at 8:46, and the second tower is going to be 19-feet-3 (inches) because it went down at 9:03.”

Dorame created the Pentagon replica to be 125 inches in outside diameter to honor the 125 people lost at that site. The plane wing represents United Airlines Flight 93, the fourth plane that went down in a field in Philadelphia.

“I really enjoy it. I like larger projects like this where we can use our creative talents,” Dorame said in 2016. “I think about it a tremendous amount, trying to find a way to incorporate numbers into the construction of it; just trying to honor those people.”