September 13, 2022
The shockwaves of the Fourth of July shooting in Highland Park are still being strongly felt throughout the Chicagoland area, the accompanying suburbs, as well as across the nation. Even now, months later, people come together through different avenues to mourn the loss of that day. One such way is through the Highland Park memorial.
One part of the memorial in Highland Park — set up beneath the Veteran’s memorial — has blue hearts to represent each victim from the July Fourth shooting. Passerbys leave flowers, photographs, stuffed animals and other tributes of remembrance to pay their respects to the victims. (photo by Kevin Lynch)
Across the street, the second part of the Highland Park memorial’s structure — across from the Veteran’s memorial, located near Central and St. Johns — is covered in hand-written tags. Each tag is written in a different color Sharpie, boldly leaving behind different messages such as, “Psalm 147: He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. HP Strong,” “Love not guns, XOXO,” and ”Hey U.S. government: Stop protecting guns instead of people!” (photo by Ella Mitchell)
Standing outside the Highland Park memorial, you can see people stopping by: writing letters to the nine-year-old shooting victim who is currently recovering from injuries, drawing chalk art hearts and observing the individual remembrances to each of the victims. The memorial serves as a gathering place for people passing through, creatives and out-of-towners alike. (photo by Ella Mitchell)
The message, “Highland Park Strong” is displayed on yard signs, storefront windows and on canvas signs within the memorial, uniting the community through a simple mantra. Hand-written notes and assorted trinkets are scattered around the sign. (photo by Ella Mitchell)
11-year-old Highland Park resident Lily Wigmore paints the word, “Promise” on a long, canvas banner. Throughout the day, she recruited other community members and people off the street to leave their thumbprints and paint other messages like, “Love” and “Hope.” (photo by Ella Mitchell)
Using the stand that Highland Park residents Claire and Lily Wigmore set up for the Facebook group Rocks For Highland Park, community members wrap rocks in orange yarn to leave behind to honor the victims of the July Fourth shooting. Orange is meant to advocate against gun violence: “When hunters wear orange and go into the woods, they’re saying they’re not the target. When we wear it, we’re saying we don’t want to be the victims of gun violence.” (photo by Kevin Lynch)
On the ground of the memorial, is a little jar labeled, “Leave what you want. Take what you need,” encouraging people passing through to interact with the memorial in a way that benefits them best. Trinkets include rocks, notes and orange ribbons. (photo by Kevin Lynch)
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