Thousands of people around the world took a 27-minute walk on Friday morning.
The collective excursion, "Walk 27," honored the memory of victims from last week's shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
In Williamsport, more than 40 people braved blustery conditions Friday morning to walk down the Susquehanna River Walk, beginning at the Park and Ride off Commerce Park Drive.
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MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette
Kristy Derr, of Williamsport, uses the wind to blow bubbles as a group walks along the Susquehanna River Walk on Friday morning, in remembrance of those killed in the Sandy Hill Elementary School shooting last week. The walk was a nationwide event occurring at the same time as the shooting, for 27 minutes. Walkers wore green, and carried green and white balloons, which are the colors of the elementary school, and blew bubbles.
At 9:30 a.m., church bells chimed across the nation, and many schools and places of businesses observed a moment of silence to mark the time when shooting started at the elementary school last week.
Many walkers wore green and white, Sandy Hook Elementary's school colors. Some walkers carried green and white balloons, and some blew bubbles that disappeared into the strong westerly wind.
"There will come a day when I can't do this," said Jennifer Lake, of Williamsport. "Today is not that day."
Melissa Vaughn Starkey, of Williamsport, organized the local iteration of Walk 27 after learning of the event on Monday.
"It's a global movement," she said. "There are people walking in Switzerland, in Germany - people are coming together for everyone globally to show their support and remembrance."
The Facebook page that originally popularized the event had more than 18,000 people say they would "attend" on Friday morning, and many people posted pictures of their walks across the nation throughout the day, along with messages of support for the Sandy Hook victims.
"I said 'I might be the only one walking, but I'm going to walk,' " Starkey said.
"We just wanted to be a part of it, so we came out," said Betty Smith, of Williamsport, who was walking with friend Carole Helminiak. "The cold really chills you - going down river the wind isn't so bad, but look at what those little ones went through."
"God must have a plan for his little ones," Helminiak said.
"We need something like this at night-time," Smith said. "There's a lot of people who'd like to participate and have to work - a candlelight vigil would have a good turnout."
Several mothers pushed bundled-up babies and toddlers in strollers, and the little ones laughed and bounced the balloons.
A number of women from Williamsport's Transitional Living Center came out for the walk.
"This is a story in itself, that these women came out here to support this cause," said Transitional Living Center staffer Rhonda Santalucia.
Kendall Simon, of Montoursville, read a list of the victims and their ages when the walkers returned to their meeting place.
"Keep these people in your prayers during these holidays," Simon said. "Lots of these people are never going to have the same life."
