Mayor Bach’s Spirit of the Springs events were created to celebrate Colorado Springs. Having just witnessed the heroism and greatness of the many fire fighters, police officers and rescue workers who helped protect our City from the Waldo Canyon Fire, it was not hard to find something worth celebrating at this year’s Spirit of the Springs Summer Rally event.
Mayor Bach and his wife Suzi joined forest supervisor Jerri Marr and 200 Colorado Springs residents at the Sand Creek Soccer Stadium (next to Security Service Field) to meet, greet and thank many of the Waldo Canyon first responders from the CSFD, CSPD, and other rescue services.
It was a fun family event, filled with games for children–including a sack toss and dunk tank. Kids could get their faces painted, and balloon animals made for them. They were even allowed to wear CSFD fire fighting gear–helmets and jackets. Free chili was provided by Wendy’s, free pizza from Domino’s, and free ice cream from the Cheyenne Mountain Resort’s ice cream truck. Cool Science even set up a booth to show kids how to make their own ice cream!
Also among the crowd was Smokey Bear, Sparky the Fire Dog, the Chik-fil-A Cow, and Sky Sox mascot Sox the Fox!
Live music was performed by Danny and the Fried Shrimp, and a DJ from Erix Audio kept the music going. Buddy Gilmore played a song written especially to honor the Waldo Canyon heroes, and local singer Kaui sang “America the Beautiful.” Throughout the afternoon several different dance exhibitions were put on–by cheerleaders, children, and Krithika’s Traditional Dance from India.
Several people spoke at the event thanking the Waldo Canyon heroes. A Lt. Col. of the US Marine Corp who was displaced by the fire praised the first responders for acting as quickly as they did.
Mayor Bach thanked all the volunteers, businesses and organizations who worked to make the Summer Rally possible. He also thanked everyone for attending the Rally, and thanked the Waldo Canyon heroes for their efforts battling the blaze. ”After so many weeks of stress and sadness, today is a day for laughter and celebration! So laugh a lot and let our heroes know how happy we are to have them here!”
