An attendee climbs stairs while holding an American flag during the 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb at Kroger Field in Lexington, Kentucky, on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. Peyton Tindall/The Watchdog

6 p.m., Kroger Field

Around 1,000 people walked up and down flights of stairs on Kroger Field to honor the first responders who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001.

For over a decade, the Lexington Fraternal Order of Firefighters has held the 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb. The organization’s president, Captain Chris MacFarlane, said the purpose of the event was to make sure people do not forget the sacrifice firefighters, police officers and other officials made that day.

“We’ll talk about it as history,” MacFarlane said. “Our job with this stair climb was to not let it just become history, let it still be real every day that people give their lives in the line of duty.”

This year, marking the 25-year anniversary of the attacks, participants once again made the climb on Thursday, Sept. 10, carrying a badge featuring the name, photo and role of a first responder who died on Sept. 11.

Before the climb began, Al Benjamin, a retired New York City Fire Department firefighter who was assigned to Rescue One on Sept. 11, told the crowd it does not take Sept. 11 to bring it back to him – he lives it every day of his life.

“To me, never forgetting (has) got to come from the heart, not just words on your mouth,” Benjamin said.

Having the opportunity to go elsewhere to commemorate Sept. 11, including New York City, Benjamin said he chose to come to Lexington because he felt the need to spread the memory of Sept. 11 around to everyone he could.

“Just to keep in mind, this terrorist attack happened on our soil, American soil,” Benjamin said. “So if you don’t remember anything else, remember that.”

As people finished the stair climb, they rang a bell to symbolize that Sept. 11 was the last call for the first responders and to signify that their sacrifice is not forgotten.

Honoring that sacrifice is one reason why Sue Ellen McFarlane said she has participated in the stair climb year after year.

McFarlane recounted the moment she found out about the attacks 25 years ago – she was at home with her eight-month-old child, feeding her in her high chair, when her sister called and asked if she had the TV on.

“It’s very emotional for me,” McFarlane said, “but it’s also very uplifting when I see everybody here that’s here to support and show their love of everyone that lost their lives and support everyone who continues to make our lives safe.”

In the day to come, more people across Lexington would come together to remember the Sept. 11 attacks and memorialize the lives lost.

Cards of fallen first responders sit on a table for people to pick up during the 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb at Kroger Field in Lexington, Kentucky, on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. Peyton Tindall/The Watchdog

8:46 a.m., UK Main Building

Members of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program at the University of Kentucky held a vigil on campus in honor of the Sept. 11 attacks 25 years ago.

The vigil started at 8:46 a.m., the time the first plane hit one of the twin towers, outside UK’s Main Building, where small flags lined walkways and the main lawn.

Guards in dress blues, a type of uniform, read the names of the victims lost and circled the American flag, rifle in hand. A few police officers and firemen were in attendance.

Zachary Kuchle, a senior majoring in economics and member of the ROTC Army Branch at UK, read the names of victims and service members who died during the Sept. 11 attacks.

Kuchle said he was honored to be the first to read names.

“We have a lot of people who pass by throughout the day, and especially when they stop and listen, you can tell that this is something very important to them,” Kuchle said. “For a lot of people, it was life changing.”

Tommy Calarco marches around the flag pole during the 9/11 monument ceremony at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky, on Friday, Sept. 11, 2026. Peyton Tindall/The Watchdog

9 a.m., Phoenix Park

Over 100 people congregate for a memorial service at Phoenix Park in downtown Lexington.

Like clockwork, the moment bagpipe players start off the service, rain begins to hit the rubber floor of the park’s playground where many attendees stand.

There, as “Scotland the Brave” echoes through the park, Lexington residents, first responders and service workers alike gather to commemorate the 25-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Keith Newsome, vice president of Rolling Thunder Kentucky Chapter 5, said he attended the memorial to pay his honor and respect to those who lost their lives due to the attacks.

Newsome was teaching high school biology when the Sept. 11 attacks began, saying he remembered feeling nothing but shock, horror, disbelief and pain.

“In that moment, it was surreal,” Newsome said. “‘It can’t happen. It’s not happening.’ But it was happening right before our eyes.”

For Newsome, remembering the events of Sept. 11 every year is essential to ensuring similar attacks do not occur in the future.

“It’s important to remember,” Newsome said, “to honor those who paid the ultimate sacrifice and to honor those victims who were simply living their life in America earning a living, and then were attacked on their own soil, in their own safety.”

Maria Oney, assistant chief of the Lexington Fire Department and one of two bagpipe players for the department, said she was on duty when the Sept. 11 attacks started.

According to Oney, although a captain informed her of the first attack, she witnessed the second attack on live television the moment she entered the station.

“The temperature in the room changed,” Oney said. “But the moment that stands out the most for me, is in between runs . . . when the first tower fell.”

According to Oney, after the first tower was hit, there was a deafening roar, followed by about 45 seconds of silence. Following the silence was the sound of hundreds of Personal Alert Safety Systems going off.

“When a firefighter lays still for more than 30 seconds, it starts to sound, and then it sounds louder if you don’t move,” Oney said. “You could hear them through the television . . . we knew exactly what that meant.”

Since Sept. 11, Oney said she lets her PASS device sound for a few extra seconds when she checks it every morning before her shift, in honor of those who sacrificed their lives.

“I would let that sound just a little bit longer and let it be my reminder to check in with myself,” Oney said. “Have I done everything I need to do to be the best I can be today? Am I ready to walk into whatever building that I’m asked to walk into the way that those guys walked in?”

Keith Newsome, center, stands in prayer during a 9/11 monument ceremony in downtown Lexington, Kentucky, on Friday, Sept. 11, 2026. Christian Kantosky/The Watchdog

10:30 a.m., Halligans Bar and Grill

Nestled within Lexington’s Distillery District, over 40 firefighters and first responders gather at the firefighter-themed Halligans Bar and Grill.

For the next three hours, attendees at Halligans share drinks and recite the names of the 343 New York City Fire Department members that lost their lives on Sept. 11, a yearly tradition they started in 2002 and have kept alive since.

Michelle Spanyer, a firefighter at LFD, said she was in first grade when the Sept. 11 attacks occurred. She said many of the children she went to school with that day left and were checked out early.

“I remember sitting on the living room floor and watching the television with my grandparents,” Spanyer said. “Everybody (was) in shock.”

According to Spanyer, she felt fear and confusion after Sept. 11, saying her family even felt apprehensive when it came to things like taking the subway due to anxiety.

As a younger firefighter, Spanyer said she feels it is her generation’s duty to continue remembering the lives lost during Sept. 11.

“If we don’t continue to do things like this, we will, as a generation, start to forget. I think it’s so important,” Spanyer said. “People made the ultimate sacrifice, and it’s the least thing that we can do to come here, read their names, be with each other and remember what they did.”

LFD Captain Ryan Hogsten said he was just getting off duty when he received a call from a fellow firefighter informing him of the attacks.

By the time Hogsten turned the television on to check the news, he was able to watch the second plane hit and collapse one of the towers.

“I was with some other firemen at the time and it took our breath away because we knew there were firemen in there,” Hogsten said. “We knew there were civilians there, and we just knew it was instant death. It was just something that was unavoidable from that collapse.”

A firefighter since 1995, Hogsten said he believes it is important to continue the remembrance of Sept. 11, not just because of the oath he swore as a firefighter to never forget, but to honor those whose lives were saved.

“There (were) over 20,000 people saved,” Hogsten said. “We talk about the deaths, the 2,900 people that passed away, but it was the largest rescue ever in the history of the United States, especially for the fire service, rescuing over 20,000 people.”

Retired Lexington Fire Chief, Robert Hendricks, gets choked up while reading names during a firefighter’s gathering to commemorate lives lost during Sept. 11 at Halligans Bar and Grill in Lexington, Kentucky, on Friday, Sept. 11, 2026. Christian Kantosky/The Watchdog

2 p.m., Veterans Park

Lexington city leaders dedicated The Global War on Terror Memorial to honor nine local service members who died during the conflict.

According to Commander Douglas High, a United States Navy Reserve veteran and the event’s Master of Ceremonies, the memorial at Veterans Park has the names of service members who died between 2004 and 2015 while fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Global War on Terror is an internal military campaign created by the United States Government after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to the George W. Bush Presidential Library.

Lexington City Councilmember Emma Curtis was one of the speakers at the event and said she was honored to have played a part in creating the memorial.

In her speech, Curtis said she wants people to remember that the action of remembering the events of Sept. 11 itself is not a passive act, but something they must do every day.

“This memorial that we are here at today is more than the materials that it’s made of,” Curtis said. “It is a reflection of our city’s commitment to honoring and actively remembering the brave Lexingtonians who stood up and decided that they were going to fight for our freedoms, and they were willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice to do so.”

Emily Chambers lost her husband, Corporal James Dieruf, while he was serving in Iraq. Dieruf was one of nine Kentuckians honored in the Global War on Terror memorial.

“I just am grateful that everybody else gets to hear about the wonderful person that I loved and fell in love with and got to marry,” Chambers said. “It brings me joy to know that others will know his name and will say his name.”

Chambers said there is an old saying that people die twice – once when they actually die, and again when no one remembers them – and she never wants her husband to die again.

“The saddening thought is thinking that nobody would remember him,” Chambers said. “So we absolutely need to keep these folks’ memories alive to honor their families and them.”

Soldier’s salute the family of a deceased armed service member during the Global War on Terror Memorial dedication ceremony for those veterans at Veterans Park in Lexington, Kentucky, on Friday, Sept. 11, 2026. Sydney Novack/The Watchdog

Joseph Bates, a keynote speaker and United States Marine Corps veteran, said he remembers sitting in class at 14 years old when he first got the news of the attacks.

“My naive soul could never understand that what I was watching that day was not a movie, but it was reality,” Bates said.

According to Bates, he watched as first responders raced into the burning towers, knowing they wouldn’t make it out alive.

That was the moment Bates decided he would enlist.

For decades, Bates served in Iraq and Somalia, retiring after sustaining a severe traumatic brain injury during his fifth and last tour.

Now, Bates speaks at memorial events across the country, reminding people to always remember the sacrifices made on Sept. 11 and during the Global War on Terror.

“Freedom is not free. There was sacrifice. Somebody had to make that sacrifice, and these nine heroes did that for us,” Bates said. “We made the decision to say never again will this happen, not on our watch.”