Celebration and solemnity at Fiesta Days events
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Smiles trumped persistent low clouds as locals celebrated the 42nd annual Memorial Weekend Fiesta Days with song and dance, a parade and paying tribute to the American servicemen and women whose sacrifices made it all possible.
Planned by the La Cañada Flintridge Chamber of Commerce and other local organizations, the four-day event drew packed audiences, from Friday’s Casino Night at the Community Center of La Cañada Flintridge all the way to the inaugural performance of this year’s “Music in the Park” summer concert series by Captain Cardiac and the Coronaries.
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But while the merry-making may have been a draw, it was the remembrance of lives lost that inspired a large attendance to this year’s Memorial service, held in Memorial Park Monday morning.
That’s where, in addition to music and recitations, participants honored the life of Army Staff Sgt. Scott Studenmund, a Flintridge Preparatory graduate who died during military engagement in Afghanistan on June 9.
Jaynie Studenmund, a La Cañada Flintridge resident and mother of Scott Studenmund, told the crowd that the park where her son’s name was unveiled was also where he used to play as a boy, having spent 14 years in the city.
She shared how, after graduating from Flintridge Preparatory School, her son felt a calling to serve in the military forces and approached his parents while in college to say he would always be able to return to school to earn a degree, but his heart was set on serving in the military.
“We gave Scott our full support,” Jaynie Studenmund said Monday. “Eighteen months later, he was one of only three of the 38 in his platoon to make it through as a Green Beret. He had studied Arabic for six months… and he was a sniper. But more than that, Scott loved mankind, and he loved being a Green Beret.”
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Follow Kelly Corrigan on Twitter: @kellymcorrigan.
Follow Sara Cardine on Twitter: @SaraCardine.
