After the fire: parade, fundraising

Community thanks volunteers, raises funds to help

| Sep 18, 2010

PITCHING IN: Wyatt Norman, 8, was in front of his 4th Street house Saturday raising money for fire victims. (Reporter photo)

A one-mile-long, Hometown Parade to Honor the Four Mile Firefighters is being held Sunday, September 19, at 2 p.m. in Downtown Boulder. It will begin at 15th & Pearl Street and end at 2400 Pearl. Parade marchers include firefighters, sheriff and police officers, volunteers, evacuees, and Boulder City and County staff and Council Members. Led by a Samba Marching Band, the Honor the Firefighters Parade will continue east on Pearl St. and end at the park at Folsom & Pearl Streets. Dog evacuees, and dogs up for adoption from the Boulder and Longmont Humane Societies are welcome to march, on leash.

The Honor the Firefighters Parade is being incorporated into the day-long, City-sponsored BoulderGreenStreets.org “Ciclovia” event. They have already closed the roads on Sunday, for community cycling and walking. Ciclovia organizer Hillary Griffith, has donated the marching band.

Heartfelt signs of thanks, handmade by students from the local schools, will line the parade route. Kids’ sign art is being coordinated by Kristin Fitzgerrell of Studio22Art. A fire truck, parked at 15th and Pearl Streets, will announce the start of the Parade with its siren. Volunteers and evacuees will be identified by colored armbands.

For more information, contact Parade organizer Alexia Parks, 303-443-3697, director of The Education Exchange Network.

Fundraising

A new emergency fund to support community members directly affected by the Fourmile Canyon Fire was announced Saturday by The Community Foundation. The fund will support the local volunteer fire departments who courageously fought this fire and the mountain residents whose lives were directly impacted by this disaster and are in critical need of financial support.