Alpharetta to hold 9/11 remembrance ceremony

Pictured is a U.S. flag recovered from the 9/11 attacks is displayed by New York City Police officers and firefighters during the ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attack in 2011. In the September 11, 2001 attacks, Al-Qaeda hijackers crashed passenger planes into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, while a fourth jet crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. (Mladen Antonov/AFP/Getty Images/TNS)

Credit: TNS

Credit: TNS

Pictured is a U.S. flag recovered from the 9/11 attacks is displayed by New York City Police officers and firefighters during the ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attack in 2011. In the September 11, 2001 attacks, Al-Qaeda hijackers crashed passenger planes into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, while a fourth jet crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. (Mladen Antonov/AFP/Getty Images/TNS)
Alpharetta is spending $30,000 to upgrade the electrical system of the Town Green at City Center to ensure there’s enough power for special events. CITY OF ALPHARETTA

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Alpharetta is marking the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. that killed almost 3,000 people in New York, Washington, D.C., and outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

The Rotary Club of Alpharetta and the city will host a remembrance event at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 11 on the Town Green near City Hall.

Mayor Jim Gilvin will make opening remarks before Alpharetta Police Chief John Robison delivers the keynote speech, a statement said.

The ceremony will reflect on those events and honor the first responders, a Rotary Club statement said. The event will include a video of images from Sept. 11, 2001 as well as a moment of silence.

“On this 20th anniversary of 9/11, we remember those first responders who charged in to burning and collapsing buildings to save others,” said John Hipes, Alpharetta Rotary 9/11 Committee Chairman and City Councilman. “And we remember those first responders in our community and thank them for keeping us safe every day.”

Gilvin added that it’s been important to reflect on 9/11 every year on the anniversary date.

“More than 100 million Americans are too young to remember what took place on 9/11,” he said. “... It is more important than ever before that we share our memories of the horrific evil and the amazing heroism that took place on that sunny September morning in 2001. We must never forget, to make sure it never happens again.”