August 23, 2017 was a day that I had been preparing for since the beginning of May. My ticket was bought, my strategic plans for standing in the pit were set, the only thing I had to do was get through the remainder of my summer and move back to San Antonio… Then I would be able to see my favorite band in the entire world live in concert for the second time.
However, things came to a screeching halt because on July 20, Chester Bennington, the lead singer of Linkin Park, died by suicide.
By the end of the day, I knew I had to do SOMETHING. The idea came to me while I was eating all of my feelings away via nachos. I knew I didn’t want people that were planning to attend the concert to be alone the evening of August 23.
That night I made a fan and group page, and I started spreading the word about my idea on the event page for the concert across Facebook, Twitter, and on different news posts from San Antonio news stations that reported about the death of Chester.
Even now, thinking about how the event gained popularity blows my mind! It blew up really quickly while I was at work the following day. I noticed someone that kept commenting and keeping people calm while I was working. I immediately knew I needed this person to help me organize this. That person became my right-hand woman! I appreciate you, Erika!
Photo courtesy of San Antonio Current
Planning the candlelight vigil was a rollercoaster ride to say the least.
The first place we tried having it at was the Alamo, they caught wind of the event before we even had the chance to call and told us no.
Many venues we got in contact with turned us down, which was ridiculous. We got in touch with a rock radio station here in San Antonio and they said they would like to help. They got in contact with the AT&T Center (where the concert was going to take place) and told them yes that we could have it at their venue (after I received a rude and blunt no when I asked them myself). The catch? The AT&T Center wanted $7500. Needless to say, many “promises” were broken and the radio station backed out on us (try to think happy thoughts).
The good news is, we were working on a backup plan the entire time. One of the ladies helping us out had a connection with someone who worked at Hemisfair Park, and we went for it!
After a couple of roadblocks, we were finally able to tell everyone the event location, which was so exciting! We also designed a t-shirt! We had a news article written about us before the vigil and we also had two news stations come out to interview Erika and me prior to the event.
The candlelight vigil itself was a moving experience. It was incredible to see so many people from different backgrounds come together to celebrate the life of Chester.
We had a guestbook that we had people sign and write messages in and we are sending it to Linkin Park. We also had a donation station that we set up, which raised $488.05 to send to the One More Light Fund at Music for Relief.
The exact location for the event was The Great Lawn at Hemisfair Park. We ended up picking the PERFECT venue. The backdrop for our event was mainly the Tower of the Americas and downtown San Antonio.
Towards the end of the event, I asked if people were interested in us making this an annual event, the decision was LOUD and UNANIMOUS! We will have plenty of time to plan one for next year!
In true Linkin Park fashion, we ended the event with the song Bleed It Out!
I hope this candlelight vigil provided our incredible niche of Linkin Park fans here in San Antonio an opportunity to grieve in a healthy way.