Built To Honor Victims Of Parkland Shooting, Coral Springs' Temple Of Time Will Be Set Ablaze Sunday Night
CORAL SPRINGS (CBSMiami) – Early Sunday evening, what's called the Temple of Time in Coral Springs will go up in flames in a ceremonial fire.
"Touch the sky and going to the heavens," Karl James said.
James and his wife Dené joined dozens of others Saturday night at the memorial.
"Everybody is going to send a message and it's going to go to the heavens," James said.
Visitors wrote messages, others left flowers, and even teddy bears in honor of the lives taken more than a year ago in neighboring Parkland at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting.
"Just people to stay strong," Dené James said.
As minutes on the clock ticked throughout the day, more and more families kept stopping by.
Even though it's quiet inside the temple, words weren't needed to express what many visitors have in common.
"We are seeing the community come out and we are all feeling the same. This pain and suffering is real," Mattie Brown said.
For some, this space helped reflect on their personal losses. Brenda Layne and her young daughter broke down in tears after recently losing a close family friend, who was a teenager, after a car crash.
"Just seeing all of this, you know, really just brings it all back," Layne said.
But soon this will be gone. The California artist who created the temple wants the burning to be therapeutic.
It's what he has done to several other temporary works of art around the world.
Time may have run out for this temple but the memories and passion will carry on.
As for husband and wife Roger and Eileen Simmons, along with the rest of the community, they'll keep trying to heal, and that takes time.
"Sadness. An overwhelming sadness for the people I don't know," Roger Simmons said.
"It's so obvious how much love is in there and love is all around us," Eileen Simmons said.
The artist who created the memorial admitted for victim's families, they will probably never heal from after such a tragedy.
But he says he's hoping to help with the process with an event and a ceremonial fire Sunday night at 7pm.
