Aug 1, 2008 8:22 am US/Central
Memorials To Mark Year Since Minn. Bridge Collapse
ST. PAUL (AP) ―
One song recalls the ordinary day a year ago when the Minneapolis bridge fell. Bagpipes will drone as mourners walk to a nearby bridge to remember. And then, at 6:05 p.m., there will be nothing but silence.
It's been a year since the Interstate 35W bridge collapsed during a Wednesday evening rush hour, killing 13 and injuring 145.
Friday is for memories and grief.
Religious leaders will offer Jewish, Hindu and Greek Orthodox prayers at an interfaith memorial service at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, reflecting the faith traditions of the victims. Buddhist monks will chant. A Native American drum group will play a song of honor. An Assemblies of God choir will sing.
Flags at the state Capitol in St. Paul will fly at half staff.
In the afternoon, musicians and dancers perform at Gold Medal Park, where people gravitated after the disaster to catch a glimpse of the destruction and leave flowers and homemade signs honoring the victims. Ceremonies there open to the sounds of simple instruments, including a conch shell, a flute and a gong.
Cathy DeCheine will strum her guitar and sing the song she wrote a few weeks after the collapse: "Ordinary Workday."
"People were on their way home," it goes. "Seemed nothing could ruin this fine summer day."
About 5:30 p.m., police, firefighters and other law enforcers who responded to the bridge collapse will lead a procession from the park about six blocks to the Stone Arch Bridge. That's just upriver from the freeway, where construction on the new bridge will halt from mid-afternoon to mid-evening.
Thirteen names will be read: Patrick Holmes, Artemio Trinidad-Mena, Paul Eickstadt, Sherry Engebretsen, Julia Blackhawk, Peter Hausmann, Sadiya Sahal, Hana Sahal, Richard Chit, Vera Peck, Christine Sacorafas, Scott Sathers and Greg Jolstad. Commuters and a construction worker, caught forever at that moment.
At the moment the bridge fell a year ago, there will be silence.
An American flag will unfurl on the new bridge. Then bells across the city will sound.
Organizers said those who lost loved ones in the bridge collapse were waiting until the last minute to decide whether and how to participate in the ceremonies. Minneapolis Police Lt. Kim Lund, a liaison to the victims, said her job is to balance their need for privacy with a hugely public moment.
"From what I know, the victims want it to be a solemn day," she said. "They want people to remember their family member. They want to be able to grieve in private."
The memorials are the first public observance of the bridge collapse since last August, when residents across Minneapolis marked a moment of silence six days after the span fell.
"It's going to be a celebration of life, but I also think it's going to be a remembrance of what people went through," said DeCheine, an oncology nurse who like many others across Minnesota was glued to the television the night of the collapse. "I think we're going to get an opportunity to feel some of that."
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