Saturday, September 10, 2022
Never forget! Join us in our annual 9/11 Memorial Run (8:43 AM) & Station Open House (11 AM-1 PM). It’s time for us to remember those we lost in the World Trade Center terrorist attack in 2001. Plus, it’s a time to thank our current day heroes and learn more about what they do to protect our community.
9/11 MEMORIAL RUN / WALK
8:46 AM: Run or walk the 3.43-mile route through town, beginning at Station One and going through Tate-Evans Park, downtown and Lees-McRae College campus. Registration begins at 7:45 AM. The run begins at the time the first tower was hit, remembering the 343 FDNY firefighters who lost their lives that day. Top three finishers get a trophy! Register in advance for $25/person. Each participant receives a commemorative t-shirt. Sign up now – limited to 100 persons.
STATION OPEN HOUSE
11 AM–1 PM: Fun for all ages with tours, fire truck climbing, training demos, gifts for kids and sweet treats from the Auxiliary. Meet our firefighters and get information about volunteering! Grab lunch across the street at the What the Cluck Food Truck (Stonewall’s parking lot), famous for Nashville Style Chicken and delicious southern sides.
From 2021: We were honored to host the first annual 9/11 Memorial Run through the town of Banner Elk on Saturday, September 11th, 2021. Many runners from around the community and state participated in the 3.43 mile run to honor the memory of those who were lost in the terrorist attacks that day. Congratulations to our winners: 1st Place-Daniel Fricker, 2nd Place-Owen Ward, 3rd Place-Josie Naumowich.
A tremendous thank you to the Banner Elk Chamber of Commerce, the Town of Banner Elk, the Banner Elk Fire Rescue Auxiliary, the Banner Elk Police Department, Lees-McRae Police Department, and the countless volunteers who contributed. What an amazing display of patriotism and honor displayed by our community!
WHAT HAPPENED ON 9/11?
On September 11, 2001, nineteen terrorists associated with al-Qaeda, an Islamist extremist group, hijacked four commercial airplanes scheduled to fly from the East Coast to California. In a coordinated attack that turned the planes into weapons, the terrorists intentionally flew two of the planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, a global business complex in New York City, causing the towers to collapse. They also flew a third plane into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense, in Arlington, Virginia. Passengers and crew members on the fourth plane launched a counterattack, forcing the hijacker pilot—who was flying the airplane toward Washington, D.C.—to crash the plane into a field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, near the town of Shanksville.
The 9/11 attacks killed 2,977 people. This was the single largest loss of life resulting from a foreign attack on American soil. The attacks caused the deaths of 441 first responders, the greatest loss of emergency responders on a single day in American history. Read more on the 9/11 Memorial & Museum website.