A day after President Bush called for a "national day of prayer and remembrance" for the victims of the World Trade Center attack, Weehawken officials put together an impromptu candlelight vigil at Hamilton Plaza last Friday night, which incredibly drew an estimated crowd of 3,000 – and has since turned Boulevard East into a memorial and shrine to honor those who perished in the terrorist tragedy.
According to Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner, the prayer service was organized over the course of five hours a week ago Friday morning.
"By 12 noon Friday, we started to get the word out," Turner said. "We put fliers in the schools and at all the township buildings and residences. The police went around announcing it over their public address systems. A lot of people heard about the service by word of mouth."
Several of the township’s spiritual leaders presided over the service, like Rev. Robert Emery, the pastor of St. Lawrence Roman Catholic Church, Pastor Birgit Solano of the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Pastor L.W. Guilfoyle, Jr. of the Park Methodist Church and Rabbi Robert Scheinberg of the United Synagogue of Hoboken.
There are at least three Weehawken residents missing due to the World Trade Center collapse (see p. 3), with more still to be reported.
By the time the candlelight prayer service was about to begin, the crowds just kept coming, closing off traffic along Boulevard East and trickling down the street in both directions.
"It was wall to wall people," Turner said. "I never saw anything like it in Weehawken. It was a spontaneous outpouring and the people just poured out onto the Boulevard. There were people so far down the street that they could have never heard the service, but they were there."
Turner was totally amazed by the turnout.
"The people just came from all over," Turner said. "And it went on all night. Even after the service was over, they all stayed. Then, more and more came. They were young and old, of all races and ethnicities. There were Arab-Americans standing next to those of Jewish faith. It made no difference. They were all sharing the same loss."
Father Emery was deeply moved by the turnout and the spirit of the crowd.
"When I looked out and saw all the faces, I noticed the different races, religions," Emery said. "The tragedy brought us together as one human family."
Weehawken public safety director Jeff Welz called it "the most impressive turnout I’ve ever seen in Weehawken," and Welz has been involved in public service in the township for more than 30 years.
As the co-director of the North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue, Welz has felt a special kinship to the hundreds of firefighters who perished in the disaster. As part of a tribute to the firefighters, many people left candles near the Firemen’s Memorial Bell in Hamilton Plaza, which has been in place to remember all Weehawken firefighters who have died in the line of duty since 1904. There’s a small plaque near the Firemen’s Memorial Bell that reads, "in honor of all firefighters who have made the ultimate sacrifice."
The memorial currently has more than 1,000 candles and cards still in place.
"Every night, people came back and lit the candles," Welz said. "It never dawned on me that this sight would become such a memorial. It has really touched me on a personal side."
More than a week after the tragedy and the memorials along Boulevard East remain, some near the bust of Alexander Hamilton further south along Hamilton Plaza. Some cards and notes are just pinned to the iron fencing along the walkway.
"It’s perhaps as close to the site of the tragedy that a lot of people want to come," Turner said. "It really has turned into quite a place of remembrance."