Yountville 9/11 Memorial marks 25 years with new bronze plaque
Twenty-five years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Yountville will mark the anniversary on Friday with a renewed memorial honoring those who died, a tradition that former Mayor John Dunbar has quietly maintained for years.
A new bronze plaque has been installed at Yountville’s 9/11 Memorial located in the Yountville Community Center Plaza, alongside the piece of steel recovered from the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
The plaque will be unveiled in time for the 25th anniversary remembrance tomorrow, the latest chapter in a memorial whose connection to Yountville dates back more than 15 years.
Dunbar, who was mayor when the memorial was established, has been closely involved with it from the beginning.
As the 10th anniversary of the attacks approached in 2011, Dunbar and vintner Sean Larkin began working to obtain a World Trade Center artifact for the town. Their efforts included working with former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Commissioner Anthony Sartor and former New Jersey Gov. Donald DiFrancesco, in coordination with the 9/11 Families Association.
Dunbar and Larkin spent more than a year pursuing an artifact through a program established to make pieces of the World Trade Center available to public safety agencies and local governments around the country.
They selected a piece from the North Tower, and the choice was deliberate.
“We chose one from the North Tower, which was where the Windows on the World restaurant was located,” Dunbar recalled. “We felt that culinary connection was appropriate for Yountville.”
The artifact was unveiled at the Yountville Community Center in 2011 during a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the attacks. Dunbar, then mayor, worked with town staff to organize the event and wrote the narrative explaining the memorial’s history and its connection to Yountville.
That story has remained part of the installation, but the materials on which it was displayed were never intended to last indefinitely outdoors.
“The storyboard, which is part of the installation has always been part of the memorial, but the previous versions were made of materials that were less expensive,” Dunbar said. “We expected they would be impacted by weather over the years.”
With the 25th anniversary approaching, Dunbar and Larkin again collaborated, this time working with Samantha Holland of the Town of Yountville to replace the aging display with a permanent bronze version.
Town and private funding were combined to fabricate the new plaque in bronze, a standard material for signage throughout Yountville.
Led by Holland, Yountville Public Works employees refreshed the memorial and installed the new plaque. The support posts also received a fresh coat of black paint ahead of Friday’s ceremonies.
For Dunbar, Yountville’s remembrance of Sept. 11 begins well before the town’s official ceremony. During his years as mayor, Dunbar observed a minute of silence each Sept. 11 at 7:28 a.m., which is the local time that corresponds with the collapse of the World Trade Center’s North Tower in New York.
He has continued the tradition personally every year, including years when Yountville’s official observance was held later in the day or at another location, such as Cal Fire Station 12. This year will be no different.
Dunbar plans to be at the memorial at 7:28 a.m. on Friday for his annual minute of reflection. He has asked that the new plaque, which was installed but remained covered this week, be uncovered before then.
Sometimes he said three or four people attend, sometimes many more. One recent year on 9/11, Dunbar recalls that a gentleman visiting Yountville happened by on his morning walk when a group had gathered. “Turns out he was in New York when it happened. This certainly made the moment even more powerful to chat with him. He didn’t know Yountville had a 9/11 Memorial.”
Yountville’s official 25th anniversary remembrance ceremony is scheduled to begin on Friday, Sept. 11, in the Community Center Plaza at 9 a.m.
