Temporary memorial to victims of Highland Park July 4th parade shooting removed
HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. (CBS) -- Highland Park residents are saying goodbye to a temporary memorial honoring the victims of the July 4th shooting.
CBS 2's Marybel Gonzalez spoke with families who gathered there Sunday night for the moment. It was a very emotional time for them, and many were moved to tears.
But it was also a moment of shared gratitude. They did see pieces of the memorial that brought them healing come down, but they say they are also very moved by the support the community has shown them.
About 7,000 handwritten notes draped the center's column at the memorial at the pavilion at Central Street and St. John's Avenue. Each contained a message of grief and hope for those killed during the Highland Park mass shooting in July
The memorial has been hope and healing, and it has been a place of purpose.
Now the notes and the decorations surrounding them have been taken down by the artists like Jacqueline Von Edelberg, who helped put them up.
"Today is a sad day for us," she said. "Obviously we would've done everything in our power to evolve this installation in any kind of way."
On Sunday night, the small group gathered in meditation and prayer as one by one, the decorations were taken down.
"For us, the point isn't the peace. The point is the process and the process for this community is coming together in this way," said Edelberg.
The group last month showed up to city meetings to ask them to keep the memorial up.
For now altars, each decorated with candles and tradition from Jewish and Hispanic cultures, will remain up.
"I think the thing that is most profound about this space is that because of the diversity of the victims, it meant that people of all different backgrounds were suddenly together in their grief," Edelberg said.
As for the notes that were once there, the group plans on digitizing them and hopes to find a new home for the materials that, albeit small, brought them immense healing.
The families said the altars will remain there through at least Nov. 4, but even if they do come down, they will make sure to keep the memory of their loved ones alive.
The group plans to create a virtual memorial as well.