Commemorating 9/11 with Back the Blue Nevada County and The American Legion

Special thanks to dedicated photographers Timothy O’Brien and Sandy Boyd

This year, Back the Blue Nevada County held our seventh annual 9/11 remembrance event, and with 2026 marking the 25th anniversary of September 11, it felt especially meaningful.

*Byron Jones and Bethany Denkers of Back the Blue Nevada County*

Back the Blue Nevada County began in June 2020. We are a Christian, conservative community organization, and the meaning behind our name is pretty simple: we support law enforcement. But our appreciation goes beyond law enforcement. We love finding ways to honor all of our emergency responders, as well as our armed forces and veterans.

Our annual 9/11 event is one of the most important ways we do that.

Each year, we combine a short remembrance ceremony with a community ride through Grass Valley and Nevada City. We ride to remember the lives lost on September 11, 2001, including the first responders who gave their lives trying to save others. But we also ride because we want our own local first responders to know that we see them.

We know what you do is hard. We know your sacrifice. And we appreciate you.

There are so many people in our community who feel the same way, and 9/11 gives us an opportunity to come together and say it out loud.

This year, our event took on a new dimension when we joined together with American Legion Post 130.

About a month before the event, I reached out to Beth Wilson with the management team at McKnight Crossing and asked for permission to gather at Patriot’s Point. If you haven't seen Patriot’s Point, it is worth visiting. It was built a few years ago, and features a huge 30-by-50-foot American flag that flies year-round. The people who care for it take that responsibility seriously. Their flag ambassadors make sure proper flag etiquette is followed, and if the flag becomes damaged, it is taken down and replaced.

Underneath the flag is a plaque explaining the meaning of Patriot’s Point, and the site also displays flags and seals representing the branches of our military. It is a beautiful place, and it seemed like the perfect setting for a 9/11 remembrance.

I asked Beth if we could gather there at 4 p.m. on September 11, hold a short ceremony and then leave on our ride at 4:30.

As it turned out, American Legion Post 130 had the same idea. They contacted Beth after we had already reserved the location, and rather than having two separate events, Beth connected our groups. I am so glad she did.

Pete Vasilakos, second vice commander of American Legion Post 130 and head of its honor guard, helped bring some very special elements to the ceremony. The Legion arranged for two planes from the Golden Empire Flying Association at the Nevada County Airport to conduct a flyover at 4 p.m.

It was a moving way to begin.

Byron Jones then welcomed everyone and offered an opening prayer. Melody Blaz led us in the Pledge of Allegiance and sang the national anthem, with everyone invited to pledge and sing along.

We then held a brief memorial for those whose lives were lost on September 11, followed by a moment of silence.

At Byron's signal, Pete gave the command to the seven members of the American Legion honor guard. They fired a three-volley rifle salute using blanks, followed by taps, played by an American Legion bugler.

That was a powerful moment.

I gave the closing remarks, and then Byron and I explained the route for our ride and went over our safety protocols. Byron finished our ceremony with a closing prayer.

About 70 people joined us at Patriot’s Point for the program, and approximately 30 vehicles participated in the ride, including motorcycles. Many of the vehicles were decorated with American flags.

Then we headed out.

Our route took us through downtown Grass Valley and downtown Nevada City and past the places where so many of the people we wanted to honor serve our community. We drove by fire departments, law enforcement agencies and the hospital emergency department.

*9/11 Commemoration Ride through downtown Grass Valley and downtown Nevada City*

The ride isn't complicated. In fact, that is part of what I love about it.

We're simply driving through our community with our flags flying and saying, in a very visible way, thank you.

Thank you to the firefighters who answer the call. Thank you to law enforcement officers who put themselves in difficult situations to protect people they may not even know. Thank you to emergency medical personnel and everyone else who shows up when someone's worst day suddenly becomes very real.

And on September 11, we also remember those who showed up 25 years ago and never came home.

We remember them. We honor them. And we don't want the people serving our community today to ever wonder whether their work and their sacrifices are noticed.

They are.

That is what Back the Blue Nevada County's 9/11 event has always been about, and I am grateful to everyone who joined us this year, to American Legion Post 130 for making the ceremony so meaningful, to McKnight Crossing for allowing us to gather at Patriot’s Point, to the Golden Empire Flying Association for the flyover, and to every person who came out, flew a flag, joined the ride or simply stood with us and remembered.

Twenty-five years later, we still remember.

And we are still grateful.