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GANDER — The town won’t be quite as packed as it was 25 years ago, but it’s still hard to find a room in Gander, N.L., for the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Mayor Percy Farwell says the central Newfoundland town has held a commemoration event every year since it hosted thousands of stranded travellers after the terrorist attacks in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. The event is about commemorating the people lost and attendance tends to spike on the milestone anniversaries, he said.
“We also acknowledge the connection that transpired with our little neck of the woods here and how meaningful that turned out to be,” Farwell said in an interview Tuesday. “(We were) responding to people that were in distress and needed a lot of life’s necessities like food and shelter. Mostly they needed love and compassion because it was a very distressing time.”
The town of about 9,500 people became forever linked to the 9/11 attacks when its airport took in 38 passenger planes carrying more than 6,500 stranded travellers when U.S. airspace closed on Sept. 11, 2001. The people of Gander rallied around what they called the “plane people,” converting schools and church halls into shelters and taking many travellers into their own homes while providing food, hot showers and other assistance. The outpouring of support was recounted in the hit musical “Come From Away.”
Cory Abbott, marketing manager for Steele Hotels, which operates four properties in Gander, says the town is pretty much booked solid for the commemoration.
“We’ve been blocked-in there for a fair bit,” Abbott said in an interview Tuesday. “We did have some (rooms) available … but it’s really filled in, in the last month or so.”
Dignitaries expected at the commemoration include Governor General Louise Arbour, former prime minister Jean Chrétien, Premier Tony Wakeham, Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson and U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra.
“This year the guest list is a little more high-end, if you want to describe it that way,” Farwell said with a chuckle.
Hoekstra has caused controversy in Canada by criticizing the “elbows up” campaign against American tariffs and by expressing irritation with Canadians’ response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s rhetoric about making the country the 51st state. Tens of thousands of Canadians have signed a petition asking the federal government to kick Hoekstra out of the country and request his removal as ambassador.
In a statement, Hoekstra said the 9/11 attacks left a lasting mark on him and the U.S., with the people of Newfoundland showing what community really means during a dark time.
“On this 25th anniversary, I am returning to say a heartfelt thank you not just on behalf of those who were stranded, but for an entire nation that remains moved by Gander’s generosity. I look forward to meeting many of those who opened their hearts and homes and honouring the enduring bond built that week,” the ambassador said.
Farwell said there’s no question that it’s a delicate time in the Canada-U.S. relationship, but the events that happened in Gander 25 years ago are outside the realm of trade policy and politics.
“The humanity of what happened here, I think that rises above the political discussions and all the other sabre rattling,” he said. “Hopefully this is a bit bigger than all that.”
Farwell says the town holds an event every Sept. 10 where stories that have not yet been featured in books, films or other media are told. This year’s list of speakers include David Collenette, who was Canada’s minister of transportation in 2001 and helped oversee Operation Yellow Ribbon, Canada’s emergency response to help safely land 200 diverted aircraft and care for the people on board.
Gander’s arena will host the formal ceremony on Sept. 11 with speeches by dignitaries and musical performances by Newfoundland artists including the Ennis Sisters and Great Big Sea’s Alan Doyle. The facility can usually accommodate 2,000 people, but Farwell said he wouldn’t be surprised if 2,500 crammed in.
An invite-only performance of “Come From Away” for dignitaries is also planned. A professional production in its fourth year in Gander.
Farwell says the community was nervous at first about people coming to write a musical about “what we described as a bunch of people making sandwiches,” but it is proud of the role it played during the attacks. He says he is sometimes contacted by U.S. school students on Zoom who weren’t alive at the time, looking to learn about the events.
“I think Canadians, and Atlantic Canadians and Newfoundlanders, the more isolated you get, the more dependent on each other, historically, we have been,” he said.
“So we tend to understand that (if) someone’s got a problem, it’s everybody’s job to help them fix it. And so that’s certainly true of our culture here.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 1, 2026.
— By Devin Stevens in Halifax
The Canadian Press
