Benefit concert at Pittsburgh Shrine Center in Harmar to raise funds for Flight 93 Rose Garden

A concert will be held at the Pittsburgh Shrine Center in Harmar to help raise funds for the Flight 93 rose garden near Shanksville, Somerset County.

“It’s our way to giving back to the heroes of Flight 93 and the sacrifices they made,” said John Vento, a board member for Remember Me Rose Garden.

The concert will be held from 2 to 7 p.m. on July 23. Admission is a $15 donation in advance or $20 at the door. Proceeds raised will help with the maintenance and care of the garden.

Vento will be performing with his band, The Nied’s Hotel Band. Other acts include The Stickers and Shane McLaughlin.

Vento said this is their first time holding a concert to help benefit the garden, but he would like to make them an annual event. He is hoping the concert raises $5,000.

“For many of us, it is very personal and we feel a sense of obligation to have created this for the rose garden,” he said. Some of the people on the board were involved that day. They heard the crash and went to the site.”

The Remember Me Garden was created to honor the 40 lives lost in the Flight 93 crash on Sept. 11, 2001.

Bill Cenk, vice president of the Remember Me Rose Garden, said the families of Flight 93 passengers purchased and donated 13 acres in 2009 to prevent the site from being commercialized. Since then, the nonprofit has worked to enhance its beauty.

He said last year before the 20th anniversary approached, he worked with the nonprofit’s president, Clay Mankamyer, to finish the garden. Within three months, the site went from an open field to a garden surrounded by rocks, benches and rose bushes with a fountain in the middle.

The garden is a quarter-mile from the east entrance to the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville. Some of the garden’s features are a large, floral compass; 40 memorial stones engraved with each of the names of the heroes of Flight 93; 350 award-winning “Julie Andrews” pink rose bushes, named for the iconic actress and performer; and a 16-foot-tall wooden cross.

Cenk said phase one of the project has been completed. Phase two includes the creation of a picnic area, planting of wildflowers in the field behind the Compass Rose, installation of a public address system and more.

“We are still not finished and won’t be for a couple years,” he said.