The Gadsden Beautification Board will host its annual 9/11 Memorial Observance on Thursday, September 11 at 5:30 p.m. on the corner of 4th & Broad Street in historic downtown Gadsden.
At 5:30 p.m., on Sept. 11, 2025, Tiffany Parnell, chairman of the Gadsden Beautification Board, welcomes attendees to the corner of 4th and Broad Street in Historic Downtown Gadsden to honor those affected by the terrorist attacks against the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.
The tragedy claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 at the World Trade Center towers in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, DC and in Somerset County, Pennsylvania where a fourth plane was heroically diverted by the passengers and crashed in an empty field.
Countless other first responders and bystanders have suffered health complications and death due to the conditions after the attack and during the clean-up efforts. As of 2018, more than 10,000 first responders and others in the area of the attacks have been diagnosed with cancer, according to Mount Sinai, with more than 2,000 deaths attributed to 9/11 illnesses.
For 23 years, the Beautification Board has hosted this event with help from Downtown Gadsden Inc., who Parnell said is instrumental in the event’s success.
Steve Means, former City of Gadsden mayor, will be the keynote speaker with an invocation by former councilwoman Dr. Cynthia Toles. There will be a performance by the Gadsden State Choir directed by JT Harrell. Don Neil will play the bagpipes and Austin Waits, trumpeter/Southside High School Band Director will play TAPS, the national song of remembrance.
The event will also feature Col. Davenport who will lead the pledge of allegiance with the Junior ROTC/color guard.
The Board will honor firefighters and representatives from law enforcement who continue to put their lives in harm’s way for the safety of others.
