Each year, on the anniversary of the attacks, a ceremony is held at the 9/11 Memorial on Never Forget Lane, just off of Peach Avenue.
This memorial was designed and created in 2019 with the intention of commemorating those who died on that day, roughly 2,977 people, and those who served by saving lives during the tragic event.
Built by Pelco, the Motorola Solutions Company, and CEO David McDonald, the 9/11 Memorial stands as a reminder not only to the public of Clovis, but to citizens state and nationwide.
Upon visiting the Memorial, it is very easy to be taken aback by the amount of effort that was put into building the bronze statues and large marble replica buildings. Not only do the models represent the majesticness and the authenticity of the buildings themselves, but they hold a certain amount of legitimacy and candor to their actual size.
Built exactly 1/100th of the actual buildings, the imitations of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon buildings serve as both reminder and eye pleaser.
This is all not to mention the bronze statues representing the brave men and women who responded first on that tragic of all days.
One statue is of Officer Moira Smith, the first officer to call in the terrorist attacks from the World Trade Center. Leading hundreds to safety on her own, it was estimated that over 25,000 people were saved that day due to efforts of first responders just like Moira. Before receiving the New York Police Department’s Medal of Honor posthumously, Moira was killed when the South Tower collapsed, officially the only female NYPD officer killed on 9/11.
A special feature included at the Memorial is a bronze statue of two firefighters. At precisely 8:46:40 a.m. on September 11th, sunlight shines through the Twin Towers memorial replica buildings and onto the two firefighters, “illuminating the brave determination of those ‘answering the call’” according to a plaque at the memorial site.
Despite these features of memorium, there are actually far and few in between that have visited the site from Clovis. According to a short poll, only 6 out of 15 residents of Clovis and the surrounding areas have visited the 9/11 Memorial, and only 2 out of those 6 have visited on a day other than 9/11.
It is the request of some that more citizens go out to visit the memorial on days other than September 11th. Through the idea of 9/12, it is the hope that those in the city of Clovis as well as those across the nation will continue to remember and memorialize the events of that one day on the rest of the 364 days of the year.