Events honor the first responders and victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Twelve years ago, Neal Pisciotto helped clean up after the attacks on the World Trade Center.
Even today, the Lopatcong Township resident and volunteer firefighter still remembers the awful smell from where the twin towers once stood.
“It wasn’t easy,” he said. “But we did what we had to do.”
Pisciotto was the only first responder in the audience tonight at SteelStacks who stood to be recognized during Bethlehem's Patriot Day celebration.
Below two star-spangled banners, the Bethlehem Municipal Band played marches, hymns and patriotic songs for about 100 people sitting in lawn chairs.
Before the concert began, a large screen showed pictures of local first responders who were also honored as hometown heroes with a banner hanging outside the ArtsQuest building, along with images of Lehigh Valley residents who died in the terrorist attacks.
Pisciotto said Sept. 11 remains a difficult day for him. He said it changed a lot of what firefighters do, even simple things like keeping the department's garage doors closed on a nice evening.
“It’s a somber day,” Pisciotto said. “You try to forget parts of it … the sights of the day.”
Patriot Day is widely observed in the area, and people such as Bethlehem resident Kaija Farber think it should be. She said 9/11 still resonates in the area because of the number of residents who work in New York City.
Farber said she was in New York the weekend after the attacks occurred and won’t forget how quiet Times Square was during her visit.
“It was a ghost town,” she said.
Earlier in the day in Easton, 250 people visited the Sigal Museum to view the 9/11 Memorial Flag -- a 22-by-32-foot American flag made of smaller flags each representing a victim of the attacks -- and documentaries, according to museum Executive Director Barbara Kowitz.
“It was a solemn day but a very good day,” she said. “Our job is to tell the stories of American history, and it made us feel good to be able to provide a venue like this that can benefit the community.”
Those who viewed the memorial flag talked about friends and family members who were lost that day, said Marlou Belyea, a tour guide at the museum.
Belyea, who sat in front of the 9/11 Memorial Flag most of the afternoon, said she heard a lot of sniffles and talk of loved ones from people who stopped in. She said she watched people find the names of friends and family members on the flag almost instantly.
“It’s like divine intervention,” Belyea said.
Allentown resident Diane Szabo said she didn’t have the heart enough to find her friend’s name on the flag because of how she felt when she found the name at the memorial in New York.
“It made my heart race,” Szabo said. “You can tell everyone who touched it.”