The Columbine Memorial will be dedicated Sept. 21 after years of fundraising, it was announced today.
The 4 p.m. public ceremony will be held at the Grant Amphitheater in Clement Park, a short distance from the memorial to be dedicated to the 12 students and a teacher who were killed and two dozen students who were injured in the April 20, 1999, tragedy at nearby Columbine High School.
“We are genuinely pleased to be in a position to set the long-awaited dedication date,” said Columbine Memorial committee chairman Bob Easton.
Construction of the memorial on a hill overlooking the high school is 85 percent complete, with the project expected to be completed over the next 45 days, Easton said.
Native stone has been used in the inner Ring of Remembrance, with etched words from victims’ relatives, and the outer Ring of Healing, with text by school staffers and community members.
A landscape planting day is scheduled for Aug. 4, with a few volunteers still needed. Additional information about the planting day and the memorial is available at .
Money for the $1.5 million memorial has been contributed by more than 3,000 people, corporations and nonprofit groups.
Fundraising lagged as the economy softened and events such as the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks; the southeast Asia tsunami; and Hurricane Katrina diverted donations. The original $2.5 million project was scaled back.
Former President Clinton, who was in office at the time of the shootings, helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for the memorial and made a personal contribution.
At the groundbreaking ceremony in June 2006, Clinton urged Coloradans to contribute, saying, “This memorial is not only so you don’t forget the people you love, but through your lives, you honor theirs.”
Staff writer Ann Schrader can be reached at 303-278-3217 or aschrader@denverpost.com.
