AURORA, Colo. (KDVR) — The Colorado Freedom Memorial Foundation will host its first public event since 2019 after the pandemic cancelled the 2020 commemoration.
In 2021, the foundation is resuming its Colorado Remembers Commemoration Ceremony in Aurora Saturday morning.
The Colorado Freedom Memorial is located at Aurora’s Springhill Park.
The memorial was built to honor 6,218 Coloradans who died defending our freedom, starting with the Spanish American War all the way up to now.
The event will not have any COVID restrictions.
The Colorado Freedom Memorial was the inspiration of local radio personality Rick Crandall, who came up with the idea while doing a live broadcast from Normandy, France.
He said normally it takes months to prepare for a ceremony like this, but this year, Crandall got exactly 42 days.
“We actually have what I think is going to be one of the better services, ceremonies that we’ve had out here, in the eight years we have been doing this because we just got very narrow-focused on what was important to this year. I think it’s going to be great,” said Crandall, Colorado Freedom Memorial founder.
The America the Beautiful Men’s Chorus will sing. They plan to raise the U.S. Space Force flag for permanent display, and of course they will toll the honor bell.
The ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. with a pancake breakfast beforehand from 8 to 9:30 a.m.
All of the events are free to the public but if you’d like to donate, all the money raised will go to the Colorado Freedom Memorial Foundation.
For more information on the Colorado Freedom Memorial, visit https://coloradofreedommemorial.com/.