Cashmere awarded 9/11 memorial statue

The city of Cashmere has been awarded the Spirit of America memorial statue, which honors the victims and survivors of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The statue had originally been meant for Olympia's Capitol Building, but state laws forbid statues not related to Washington state at the stately building. David Lewis, director of the Spirit of America Memorial Foundation pitched the memorial to a number of cities, with varied degrees of interest. While towns like Cashmere showed great interest from early on, authorities in places like Kirkland and Issaquah rejected the statue outright.

The memorial includes metal from the World Trade Center site and depicts a civilian, a stewardess, a firefighter and a soldier holding hands, facing out in an incomplete circle. The space in the circle is meant to commemorate those lost during the terrorist attacks. The civilian represents the office workers who died at the Twin Towers, the stewardess represents the airline personnel lost when the planes hit the towers. The firefighter represents the emergency personnel who died rescuing people at Ground Zero and the Pentagon, and the soldier, representing the servicemen and women whose lives were affected by the attacks. The missing spot on the circle allows people to interact with the statue, grasping its hands and stepping on the footprints.

At the end, three finalists remained: Wenatchee, Chewelah and Cashmere. The city was informed July 3 that it had been chosen.

The statue will be located next to the American flag at Riverside Center. The bushes currently there will disappear and the memorial will tie into the foreign wars' memorial there.

"Now the hard work begins," said Joan Baldwin, a member of the committee that lobbied Lewis' foundation to pick Cashmere. "We still need funds."

Jack Pusel, another member of the committee said the impact on Cashmere will be great.

The statue first came to town during Apple Days 2013 at the Cashmere Museum. The Museum's JoAnne Prusa had seen it during a visit to Leavenworth and she asked Lewis if he would consider bringing it to Cashmere in October.

Pusel first saw the statue at Apple Days.

"We just thought that Cashmere is the All-American city in this state," he said. "We invited Dave Lewis to come back for Veterans Day.

In November, Lewis visited Cashmere for Veterans Day and, Baldwin said, he was astounded by the community's support of its veterans.

"I felt like what really affected him was the fact that our Veterans Day program was incredible," Baldwin said. The program included a children's program at each school, and a parade through town. The fact that the program included children of all ages thrilled Lewis.

Another thing that helped Cashmere was its geographic location, its proximity to a main highway, and its small size.

"Location put us over the top, and the spirit of Cashmere, the flags on the street," Pusel said. "We told him, these flags are here every day."

Fundraising will kick up now that the statue has a stable home. More than $12,000 have been pledged, Pusel said.

Baldwin said that the home is in Cashmere, but the significance is greater than one little town.

"This is a Valley monument," Baldwin said. "I hope the whole Wenatchee Valley will take part in raising funds."

The statue will arrive in Cashmere in the next two weeks. Plans for a welcoming ceremony are still soft, Baldwin said.

"Until we know what's happening, we can't plan anything," she said.

The statue will be dedicated at its new site on Memorial Day 2015.

Sebastian Moraga can be reached at 782-3781 or editor@leavenworthecho.com.