Remembering September 11 Anniversary 25 Years Later

Twenty-five years later, we remember.

We remember where we were. We remember the images that seemed impossible to comprehend. We remember the first responders running toward danger as others ran away. And we remember the nearly 3,000 people who went to work, boarded a plane or simply started an ordinary Tuesday morning on Sept. 11, 2001, and never came home.

On Friday, Sept. 11, 2026, communities across Northeast Ohio will mark 25 years since the terrorist attacks with ceremonies, candles, memorial climbs, music and moments of silence, each carrying the same promise: never forget.

Here in Summit County, remembrance will begin early.

In Cuyahoga Falls, the community will gather outside Fire Station 1 on Front Street beginning at 8:40 a.m. A memorial bell will ring at 8:46 a.m., marking the moment American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The city says the remembrance honors those who died that morning as well as those whose lives were lost in the years that followed.

In Hudson, the Military Veterans Commission and Hudson City Schools are hosting a 25th Anniversary 9/11 Stair Climb at Hudson High School Memorial Stadium. An 8 a.m. ceremony will include a moment of silence, first-responder bell chime and the national anthem before participants climb the equivalent of 110 stories, the height of the World Trade Center towers.

Stow will hold its commemoration from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. in front of the Stow Safety Building. Nearby, the city’s 9/11 Memorial Garden contains an authentic steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center, giving Northeast Ohio residents a tangible connection to Ground Zero.

In Tallmadge, remembrance will surround the historic Circle. Volunteers will place 2,977 candles — one for every victim killed in the attacks — beginning Friday morning. A candle-lighting and memorial ceremony is planned for 9 a.m., followed by another ceremony at 8 p.m. The candles will remain burning throughout the day and evening.

Akron will remember through another symbolic climb Friday evening at InfoCision Stadium. Beginning at 6 p.m., participants will climb in honor of the 343 firefighters, 72 law-enforcement officers, 10 EMS personnel and the thousands of others whose lives were lost. Proceeds from the event benefit the Bob Denton Safety Forces Support Center and its work supporting first-responder mental health.

Remembrances are also planned across Medina County.

Wadsworth will hold its 9/11 Memorial Ceremony at 10 a.m. at the city’s memorial at Safety Town and Fire Station 1 on College Street. The approximately 30-minute program will include city officials, police and fire personnel, the American Legion and VFW Honor Guard and the Wadsworth High School Choir.

In Medina, a 25th-anniversary ceremony begins at 10 a.m. at Medina’s 9/11 Memorial Park at Fire Station No. 1 on West Reagan Parkway, with special recognition of firefighters.

And in Brunswick, Saint Ambrose Parish is hosting a 9/11 Tribute Night of Remembrance beginning at 6 p.m. First responders and their families are invited to a complimentary dinner, followed by a free Concert of Remembrance at 7:30 p.m. featuring the Saint Ambrose Music Ministry and Academy Brass Quintet.

Stark County will mark the anniversary in several powerful ways.

The Canton Fire Department’s annual 9/11 Memorial Climb begins at 8 a.m. on the grounds of the William McKinley National Memorial. Participants will climb the memorial steps in tribute to the firefighters and first responders who climbed into the World Trade Center towers 25 years ago. The event is open to the public and all ages.

Those same grounds are also hosting “Remembering Our Fallen,” a traveling memorial featuring 35 tribute towers filled with military and personal photographs. The exhibit honors 5,473 American service members who died from wounds suffered while serving the nation in the years following September 11, 2001. It is free and open to the public through September 13.

Nearby at MAPS Air Museum, the remembrance will take to the sky. The 9/11 Memorial Flight and MAPS Fly-In begins Friday morning, with a 7:30 a.m. briefing and memorial flights scheduled for 9 a.m., followed by formation flights throughout the afternoon.

But September 11 is not just a national story.

It is an Ohio story, too.

For its 25th-anniversary ceremony in Cleveland, the Cuyahoga County Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument has compiled the stories of 13 Ohioans with connections to September 11 whose lives and stories will be honored. Their biographies will be read throughout Friday morning as the Monument marks the significant moments of the attacks.

They are:

William Moskal, 50, of Brecksville.

Kathleen “Kit” Faragher, 33, who grew up in Russell Township.

Joseph Heller, 37, who grew up and lived in Rocky River.

Peter E. Mardikan, 29, whose in-laws lived in Parma.

Christina Ryook, 25, who grew up in Westlake.

Debbie Medwig, 46, formerly of North Olmsted.

Susan Getzendanner, 58, who grew up in Shaker Heights.

John Hart, 38, who lived in Cuyahoga Falls and worked in Cleveland.

George Spencer III, 50, who grew up in Shaker Heights.

Todd Weaver, 30, who grew up in North Canton.

Terrance Michael Lynch, 49, who grew up in Youngstown.

Lt. Col. David Scales, 44, who lived in Cleveland and Berea.

And Wendy R. Faulkner, of Mason, Ohio.

Their names are an important reminder that the distance between Northeast Ohio and New York City, Washington, D.C., or Shanksville, Pennsylvania, did not make September 11 a distant tragedy.

Families here lost sons and daughters. Communities here lost neighbors and classmates. Twenty-five years later, their names are still being spoken.

There is another part of the September 11 story that has continued long beyond that Tuesday morning.

Thousands of first responders, recovery workers and members of the military spent years dealing with the consequences of what happened that day. Canton’s “Remembering Our Fallen” exhibit focuses on thousands of service members lost during the wars that followed, while local stair climbs and ceremonies continue to recognize those who answered the call to serve.

And now an entire generation has grown up without a firsthand memory of September 11.

Many of the students singing at ceremonies, climbing stadium steps or attending school remembrance programs this year were born more than a decade after the attacks.

That makes the words “Never Forget” mean something a little different 25 years later.

For those who remember September 11, 2001, it means holding onto the memories.

For those who weren’t there, it means continuing to tell the stories.

Remember the ordinary people whose mornings never ended the way they expected.

Remember the firefighters who climbed.

Remember the police officers, paramedics, flight crews and passengers.

Remember the families who have carried their absence for 25 years.

And here in Northeast Ohio, remember their names.

Twenty-five years later, we remember.