Honor Summit honors 9/11 victims and heroes with light display from Mount Washington

It was a dark and stormy night Wednesday atop Mount Washington.

And while the inclement weather on the rock pile didn’t prevent the flipping of a ceremonial switch at the Hotel Indigo here as part of the Honor Summit, a four-day commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the Sept.11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the weather did prevent the light from getting off the summit of the tallest park in the Northeast.

Renee Plummer flips the switch on Sept. 9 during a ceremony at the Hotel Indigo in North Conway. The switch activates two beams of light that project upward from the summit of nearby Mount Washington. (Photo by John Koziol)

The dual towers of light were supposed to be visible from as far as 135 miles away from Mount Washington.

The good news, according to Jay Broccolo, the director of weather observations at the Mount Washington Observatory, is that the weather is expected to significantly approve for the Friday observance.

The Honor Summit was created by Renee Plummer of Granite Springs Foundation, said organizers, “to ensure that the 25th anniversary of 9/11 is remembered with the visibility and respect it deserves. With support from the state of New Hampshire and partners across the region, the installation offers an experience that belongs to all of us: rooted in gratitude, unity, and collective remembrance.”

Through Saturday, starting at 8 p.m., two beams of light will shine for four hours from the summit of Mount Washington, the organizers said, to honor “the lives lost, the heroes who answered the call, and those who continue to serve.”

The lights will be turned off periodically so as to not interfere with migratory birds. Organizers explained that the Portsmouth-based Granite Springs Foundation “offers the salute as a fundraiser for four veterans service organizations: Harbor Care, Operation Delta Dog, Camp Resilience and the Hidden Battles Foundation.”

The lights are scheduled to shine nightly from 8 p.m. to midnight through Sept. 12. (Photo by John Koziol)

Stephanie Couturier, the regional CEO of the Northern New England chapter of the American Red Cross, summed up that for the nation, the mission has remained the same since 9/11, which is to “never forget.”

Brig. Gen. Allen Aldenberg, who is assistant adjutant general with the New Hampshire National Guard, said 9/11 changed the world.

“We remember the confusion, the disbelief. It was happening to us,” Aldenberg said.

Nonetheless, Americans afterwards went back to work, he said, to donate time and resources to relief efforts, and to check on the welfare of their neighbors.

Those who lived through 9/11 have an obligation to educate the younger generations about sacrifice and unity, and how on that awful day there were many people who ran to danger, Aldenberg said.

Jay Broccolo, director of weather observations at the Mount Washington Observatory, describes the tempestuous conditions atop the “rock pile” that made the light cast by two giant beams of light shot from there into the sky invisible to attendees of an illumination ceremony at the Hotel Indigo in North Conway. The lights are scheduled to be lit nightly from 8 p.m. through midnight through Sept. 12. (Photo by John Koziol)

Robert Coates, of Eversource, said despite the stormy weather on Mount Washington on Wednesday night, a very powerful message was nonetheless sent to heaven to the thousands of people who died on 9/11 or from the consequences of it.

District 1 Executive Councilor Joe Kenney, who along with Gov. Kelley Ayotte spoke at the Honor Summit ceremony, said everybody knew where he or she was on 9/11.

On that day, first responders tuned into “heroes,” he said.

He praised Plummer and others on the Honor Summit Committee for doing a great job of remembering all who died and who served on 9/11.