With flags fluttering at half-staff and a teary crowd of hundreds on hand, state and city officials gathered for a 9 a.m. memorial service this morning at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.
Among those on hand to remember the victims of Saturday’s deadly stage collapse were Gov. Mitch Daniels, Indiana first lady Cheri Daniels, Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman, Mayor Greg Ballard, and a host of state fair officials.
We come today with hearts that are broken, but hearts that are full,” Daniels told the crowd, pausing at times during his remarks after being visibly moved. “Our hearts are with you. My heart is full for those who acted in courageous ways. … There was a hero every ten feet on Saturday night.”
Daniels continued by saying he couldn’t be more proud to be the employee of 6.5 million people like that.
Daniels’ wife Cheri took the stage after him, saying: “Certain events in life leave us in shock and numb. These are defining moments that reveal our inner strength.”
Hoosiers have two options, she said, “lose heart and hope or take heart and rebuild. We choose to rebuild.”
Lt. Gov. Skillman led the ceremony’s prayer service, asking for healing and compassion for those who were injured and recognizing first-responders. The Rev. William Enright followed Skillman in a prayer. After remarks, the names of the five victims were read aloud, followed by the singing of “Amazing Grace”.
Even as the fair reopened, state officials were investigating the cause of the collapse and what role the weather, including a wind gust that topped 60 miles an hour, might have played.
Along with checking for any evidence of structural problems with the stage, investigators were looking into whether fair officials acted swiftly enough or paid appropriate heed to a severe thunderstorm watch that was issued nearly three hours before the scheduled concert.
The rigging collapsed at 8:49 p.m., minutes before the featured act, the country duo Sugarland, was to take the stage. The musicians were not injured.
Videos posted online shortly after the accident show plumes of gravel and sand lashing through a nearly pitch-black sky. The tarp roof and backdrop of the stage flaps violently moments before the steel rigging slumps and topples onto a screaming crowd in front of the stage.
Stacia Floyd, 22, who watched the scene unfold from the grandstand with her boyfriend and 4-year-old daughter, described it as “the worst thing I’ve ever seen.”
“There were people that were bawling,” she said in telephone interview on Sunday. “Everyone was really scared, shaken up.”
Ms. Floyd said that moments before the crash, an announcement said that the concert might be postponed and that concertgoers should head indoors and return after the storm had passed.
The video footage posted online shows some people in the crowd starting to move, but Ms. Floyd said it appeared that most people stayed until the rigging began to collapse.
“It could have been prevented if the place had been evacuated properly,” Ms. Floyd said. “They knew the weather was coming. They should have evacuated it fast.”
The Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the state fire marshal’s office were investigating what caused the collapse, said Cindy Hoye, the fair’s executive director. Officials said that according to weather reports, a highly localized windstorm with a gust that topped 60 m.p.h. hit the concert site just before the stage collapsed.
The police identified those killed as Tammy Vandam, 42, of Wanatah, Ind.; Glenn Goodrich, 49, of Indianapolis; Alina BigJohny, 23, of Fort Wayne, Ind.; and Christina Santiago, 29, of Chicago. The fifth victim, Nathan Byrd, 51, who died at the hospital, was a stagehand from Indianapolis. During the memorial on Monday, each of their names was read aloud as a bouquet of flowers was carried to the stage.
Mr. Daniels praised the hundreds of people who remained at the accident site pulling trapped concertgoers from under the collapsed rigging.
They “ran to the trouble, not from the trouble,” the governor said, as he to struggled to maintain his composure. “That’s the character that we associate with our state.”
Mr. Daniels said his wife, Cheri, and one of their daughters were at the fair for the concert.
David Imy, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said a severe thunderstorm watch for all of Indiana was issued just before 6 p.m. Saturday, almost three hours before the winds struck the concert site.
“When we issue a severe storm watch, it means precautions need to be taken,” Mr. Imy said. “People need to get inside and not stay outside.”
As emergency crews worked to carry victims out on stretchers after the collapse, returning audience members and others lifted the giant metal scaffolding off people pinned beneath it, according to witness accounts and photos and video posted online. Around 10:30 p.m., police dogs were brought in to help search the debris for any people who might still be trapped.
On social media sites on Sunday, musicians including Keith Urban and LeAnn Rimes expressed shock and sympathy. “We send our prayers and thoughts to each and everyone of you who were there and your families and loved ones as well,” Mr. Urban wrote on Twitter. “God bless you all.”
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