By Ryan Maye Handy
The Gazette
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The summer Spirit of the Springs, a light-hearted pep rally celebrating Colorado Springs, was marked this year by the memory of one of the greatest disasters the city has ever known, the Waldo Canyon fire.
The third rally hosted by Mayor Steve Bach was scheduled before the fire ignited on June 23. Rather than dwelling on the blaze’s devastation, which gutted 346 homes and killed two peopl, the rally became a way for locals to thank the fire officials who helped see them through the worst.
Bob Dorry and his wife, Ann Marie, came to the Security Service Field on Saturday afternoon to thank firefighters for battling the flames near their home in the Peregrine neighborhood, an area that was hit but not severely damaged by the fire. The Dorrys pulled away from their street just as the June 26 firestorm began pushing toward their home, which they were sure wouldn’t survive. Thankfully, it did.
The Dorrys also saw some familiar faces at the rally - Jerri Marr, forest supervisor for the Pike and San Isabel National Forests, Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands, and former Colorado Springs firefighter Greg Heule - both of whom relayed countless updates to the community during the fire.
“We feel like we know them,” said Bob Dorry, who spent days glued to his television set during the fire.
Bach wandered among a crowd of just over 100 people, watching participants toss volunteers into a dunk tank. He presented Marr with a Spirit of the Springs gratitude award for her work during the fire.
A steady stream of children were busily writing their own thank- you notes at the Imagination Celebration tent on the field.
A few firefighters from Station 17 milled around as well, posing for the occasional photo and filling the dump tank with gallons of water.
While the kids filled out their notes, and the firefighters stood guard over their engines, singer Buddy Gilmore, a one-time mayoral candidate, serenaded the crowd with a ballad he wrote commemorating the Waldo Canyon fire. He took on the voice of Fire Chief Rich Brown, calling his fire crews to their stations.
“Grab your gear, I need you here! There’s a fire on the ridge,” Gilmore crooned. “And Waldo Canyon is burning down.”
Copyright 2012 ProQuest Information and Learning
All Rights Reserved
ProQuest SuperText
Copyright 2012 Freedom Newspapers, Inc.