Prayer ribbons return to City Hall
More than 3,000 prayer ribbons will sway with the breeze this week outside of Orlando City Hall, with 50 of them honoring victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting.
Jay Critchley, the founder of the Massachusetts-based nonprofit Provincetown Community Compact, installed the strand of ribbons Monday, stringing the colorful strands across three palms in the courtyard.
In November 2016, the prayer ribbons were posted at Leu Gardens and later moved to City Hall.
“People can come by and read the names and they’ll be fluttering in the breeze and they’ll provide a visual presence for the week,” Critchley said. “It was a celebratory and a solemn message for people. It was a healing message. The colors provide a visual way for people to come together.”
Forty-nine black ribbons are intermingled with others in the swaying row with each victim’s name written in gold. Another black ribbon was dedicated to the dozens injured in the June 12, 2016 attack.
The ribbons will be displayed until June 17 and are open for public viewing.
The other ribbons are shades of yellow, red, blue, white and green.
After the Pulse attack, the nonprofit had a ceremony in Provincetown, Mass., where each victim’s name was read and the ribbon was announced.
Last month, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer sent the Compact a letter inviting the group back for the second-year mark of the tragedy.
“The prayer ribbons were another reminder for our residents that communities around the nation were standing with us during a difficult time,” Dyer wrote. “Having the prayer ribbons return to Orlando would help our city continue the healing process and provide another way to celebrate the unity of our community and inclusive communities like Provincetown.”
Critchley said the strand was first created in Provincetown in 1993 as a visual witness to an annual event the nonprofit hosts to raise money for AIDS.
The ribbons were meant as a sign of the impact AIDS had on the Provincetown community, as well as “the courage of the town to fight governmental indifference and symbolize the model supportive community that responded,” according to the Compact’s website.
Not all of the victims honor somebody who has died, others have uplifting messages for caregivers.
“It isn’t just people who have died, but people you want to honor,” Critchley said.