After a one-year hiatus, and in answer to community requests, the 9/11 Motorcade returns.

By Mary O’KEEFE

As reported earlier, the long time tradition of the local Patriot Day Motorcade will return to the area on Sept. 11 after a one-year hiatus. 

Last year, after a decade of hosting the motorcade, organizers decided to end the event citing the 10th year was a good time to call it quits; however, many in the community reached out to ask that the event continue. 

The Crescenta Valley Chamber of Commerce, under the direction of Dwight Sityar, Jean Maluccio and Steve Pierce, founded the 9/11 Patriot Day Motorcade. Community members and students across the valley gathered each year to see first responder vehicles, classic cars, muscle cars and hot rods drive past on Sept. 11 in recognition of Patriot Day. The purpose of the motorcade was to draw attention to first responders and add emphasis to the American mantra of “Never Forget.”

“Many of our first responders asked if we were planning to do a motorcade this year,” Pierce said in an earlier interview with CVW. “That sparked our interest to bring it back.”

The motorcade drives past numerous schools, fire stations and law enforcement agencies. Students stand outside schools with signs of support for emergency responders as the motorcade, including fire and law enforcement vehicles, drives by. 

Patriot Day was designated on Dec. 18, 2001 as a joint resolution of the U.S. Congress. Americans are asked to honor those who lost their lives beginning at 8:46 a.m. EST. That was the time the first airplane struck the World Trade Center in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001. 

“Nineteen terrorists from al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial airplanes, deliberately crashing two of the planes into the upper floors of the north and south towers of the World Trade Center complex and a third plane into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. The Twin Towers ultimately collapsed because of the damage sustained from the impacts and the resulting fires. After learning about the other attacks, passengers on the fourth hijacked plane, Flight 93, fought back and the plane was crashed into an empty field in western Pennsylvania about 20 minutes by air from Washington, D.C. The attacks killed 2,977 people from 93 nations: 2,753 people were killed in New York; 184 people were killed at the Pentagon; and 40 people were killed on Flight 93,” according to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. 

Among those victims were 343 New York City firefighters, 23 New York City police officers and 37 officers of the Port Authority.

Those were the deaths that occurred the day of the attack; however, the fallout has continued for many, including early responders – some who survived that day and others who continued to help search and recover victims in the rubble of the Twin Towers. 

Thousands of first responders, construction workers and nearby residents were exposed to toxic dust containing asbestos, lead and jet fuel residue. This has led to health conditions including rare cancers and respiratory issues. 

The 9/11 motorcade will begin in the 2600 block of Foothill Boulevard at the Ralphs Market Place parking lot. It had been reported earlier that the starting area would be at Bob Smith Toyota’s lot; however, that has changed back to Ralphs. 

Traditionally the bells of St. Luke’s of the Mountains ring as the motorcade begins; however, the bells, which were donated just after WWI, require maintenance, which has been difficult for the church financially as well as finding someone who can repair the old bells. 

MAP 2025-Patriot-Day-Motorcade-Revised