An event to show support for the men and women who serve in law enforcement is being planned for Oct. 3, along the sidewalks of Wait Park in downtown Canby.
Those attending the “Canby Backs the Blue” event are asked to arrive at the park starting at 1 p.m. with flags and signs or “notes of encouragement and appreciation for our men and women in blue,” according to the Facebook description.
Organizer Shannon Wernecke tells The Canby Current she “wanted to do something positive for our local police.”
“I was just expecting to do something small, a simple flag wave and give appreciation notes to the police department,” she said. “I’m also going to give appreciation notes to the fire department since they’ve been helping out Molalla with the wildfires.”
After the event was posted in several community Facebook groups this week, though, including the 21,000-member-strong Canby Now, Wernecke says attendance will likely be much more than she anticipated, which she said is “exciting and encouraging.”
“I wouldn’t say I’m anyone special per se, I’m just a stay-at-home mom that wanted to do something positive to show support,” she said. “I do know that there is strength in numbers as I have seen with other back the blue events.”
A similar event, called “Police Solidarity,” was staged at in Wait Park in June, including remarks from Canby Mayor Brian Hodson, City Council candidate Jordan Tibbals (who had not announced his candidacy at the time) and other local men.
Another event, which shared the same organizers, included attendees waving American flags, some with a blue line, as well as signs and banners supporting the reelection campaign of President Donald Trump, was held at the Interstate 5 overpass near the Canby exit several weeks later.
