COLRAIN — A wooden flag memorializing the 9/11 terrorist attacks may soon be lit again.
“Glowing Glory” was built by Ken Shearer following the 9/11 attacks in remembrance of those who perished and the first responders who risked their lives to search for potential survivors. It has not been lit for a number of years now due to the costs of electricity and maintaining the structure of the flag.
Now, a local group, the Friends for the Preservation of the Colrain Historic District, along with individuals from across Franklin County, is organizing and raising money to bring the glow back to Glowing Glory, as the United States approaches the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
“I was meeting with our Town [Administrator] Diana Parsons, and she happened to mention that … ‘Maybe your group can help with this somehow,'” said Robbie Murphy, a member of the Friends for the Preservation of the Colrain Historic District. “Our intention has been to figure out how to be responsive to concerns and properties and projects that are significant to the town’s history. I went to our group at our next meeting, and it was an enthusiastic response to support exploring how to restore the flag.”
When the 28-foot-long and 18-foot-high flag was originally built in 2001, Shearer handled the carpentry, while local artist Pacifico “Tony” Palumbo handled the LED work. In an interview with the Greenfield Recorder back in 2001, Palumbo said that the flag would be visible with binoculars from Poet’s Seat Tower in Greenfield, and that getting the flag lit was important because “it’s something people really need right now.”
With a goal of $18,000, the organization has raised nearly $13,000 so far. The Friends group, in addition to operating a GoFundMe page at gofundme.com/f/TheColrain9-11FlagMemorialLightItUP, put collection boxes in several locations around Colrain and Franklin County. The money that the group is raising is for the reconstruction of the structure of the flag, the cost of electricity and the work that has gone into redoing the area around the flag so that it can be seen once again, rather than obscured by trees. Recently, Murphy and Nina Reyes, president of the Friends group, started repainting the flag on June 4.
“The donations [range] from loose change, [and] a few individuals and businesses in Colrain have stepped up with larger donations,” Murphy said. “We’re about two-thirds of the way to our goal, which would fully restore the flag to an operating level for the coming couple of years, hopefully longer than that. … Donations are coming in, checks are coming in the mail, so there’s a great response, and I think what’s interesting is that it’s certainly a local landmark, but the fact that this was spearheaded by someone who passes through town … it kind of declared how much this Colrain landmark was valued.”
Amherst resident Pepe Torras was the one who sparked the conversation after approaching Parsons about what could be done to get the flag relit. He passes the flag as he drives up to Mount Snow, where he coaches ski racing.
In a statement, Torras said, “When we first saw that flag on the hill in Colrain, it made everyone in the car feel good about being an American, and that we were going to get through it. Every time, every week I drove by that sign, it gave me that same feeling.”
Reyes said the fundraiser has been “going really well, considering [the Friends for the Preservation of the Colrain Historic District has] never raised money before.”
“It was daunting,” Reyes added. “[But], you look at the GoFundMe and it’s moving steadily in the right direction.”
This is not the first time that efforts have been made to restore Glowing Glory. In 2011, as America was approaching the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and Colrain was on the precipice of its 250th year as a town, an effort was made to relight the flag.
This effort proved successful, and while Palumbo had originally tried to use energy-efficient, durable light-emitting diodes, Glowing Glory wasn’t truly glowing, and he switched back to the neon red, white and blue that had been used in 2001.
According to Murphy, this relighting effort kept Glowing Glory glowing for a few more years, but it went dark again at some point in the mid-2010s. Now, with the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States on the horizon, Murphy hopes that this flag will be used to honor all first responders.
“A woman referred to it, kind of jokingly, as the Citgo sign of western Mass. But I think it’s beloved for what it represents on so many levels,” Murphy said. “All the kinds of support feels really important … all the in-kind services are so valuable. This is really about honoring first responders and emergency service workers.”
Glowing Glory can be viewed at the corner of Greenfield Road and Coombs Road, and is directly across from Pine Hill Orchards, on top of the hill.
“We see it as the flag is something that belongs to all of us,” Reyes said. “It’s a real opportunity for unity in the town.”
