Apopka to Unveil 9/11 Memorial today

The City of Apopka will recognize the 15th anniversary of 9/11 today with the unveiling of a special memorial created by local Boy Scout Christian Lamphere.

The ceremony honoring first responders and others lost on Sept. 11, 2001, will begin at 8 AM today on the front steps of Apopka City Hall, 120 E. Main St.

Parking is available around City Hall and adjacent streets.

The community is invited to hear presentations from Apopka’s fire and police departments, elected officials and the Boy Scouts of America. A ribbon cutting will unveil the new 9/11 monument next to City Hall. Lamphere’s Eagle Scout project includes a section of the original World Trade Center from New York.

“The City of Apopka is so proud that Christian selected this memorial to earn his Eagle Scout rank," said Apopka Mayor Joe Kilsheimer. "The project has brought our community together for a very special remembrance of Sept. 11 and galvanized a patriotic spirit in everyone involved,”

The memorial features a 10-foot exterior building panel from the World Trade Center as well as two pieces of Pennsylvania granite were donated by Brandywine Quarry in Parkesburg, PA. The memorial, which sits on a pentagon-shaped foundation, includes fountains, flower beds and brick pillars with plaques dedicated to first responders and the City of Apopka.

Local businesses and organizations including Copart, The Home Depot, Mullinax Ford, Bowk and Sarmo Construction, Construct Rite Masonry, Apopka firefighters and city staff, T-3 Fabrications and others contributed funding, materials and labor to help Lamphere put the memorial together. Lamphere organized a car wash and other fundraisers to collect donations.

Lamphere originally proposed the memorial in 2015 and spent much of the past year putting it all together. His idea is to recognize first responders and others lost in the tragic terrorist attacks that flew hijacked passenger jets into New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Virginia on Sept. 11, 2001. Another jet crashed that day into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.