The runners who race along Summit Avenue in St. Paul this weekend for the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon will see a poignant reminder of the mass shooting in August at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis.

Hundreds of green and blue ribbons, representing the school colors, are being tied to trees along both sides of Summit from Cretin Avenue to the Capitol.

St. Paul resident Kristen Lyrek is helping lead the ribbon brigade in an effort to honor the students killed and wounded in the Aug. 27 attack. The students were celebrating the first Mass of the new school year when a shooter opened fire through a window, killing Harper Moyski, 10, and Fletcher Merkel, 8, and wounding 21 people. The shooter died by suicide, police said.

“We’re trying to wrap as many trees on Summit as possible,” Lyrek said. “We feel it’s important to show Minneapolis and all the people visiting St. Paul this weekend that we all stand together, and we haven’t forgotten.”

Lyrek’s husband, Daniel, is a marathon runner and runs with the El Jefe Running Group; Jesse Merkel, Fletcher’s father, also runs with El Jefe. Both men are signed up to run the marathon on Sunday; Mollie Merkel, Fletcher’s mother, is signed up to run the 10-mile race.

Inspired by Minneapolis ribbons

Lyrek said she began working on the ribbons after visiting the memorial site at Annunciation after the shooting.

“I came home to St. Paul, and it was really sad to me how there were no signs anywhere that this had happened,” she said. “I felt like if a city right next to where this happened isn’t up in arms and isn’t as devastated as the city where it happened, then how are we supposed to, as a nation, do anything about this?”

She decided to start putting up ribbons “and then it snowballed because that’s what I do.”

Lyrek began making hundreds of ribbons from plastic tablecloths she ordered off Amazon. She carries the bundles of ribbons in a black Lululemon bag and has been systematically tying them around trees and lampposts during runs up and down Summit Avenue. A group of volunteers is joining her on Thursday and Friday to fill in any gaps.

Lyrek got permission from city officials to tie the ribbons to trees and lampposts prior to the race, “but I don’t think they realized exactly how many I would be putting up,” she said.

Blue and green ribbons, representing the colors of Annunciation Catholic School, are tied to trees along Summit Avenue in St. Paul. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

A group of volunteers called Bows of Love has been putting up ribbons around Annunciation in Minneapolis and in other parts of the Twin Cities. More than 1,000 volunteers have made and placed more than 30,000 ribbons since the shooting, said Sarah Henning, a Minneapolis resident who is helping spearhead the effort.

“Our goal is, after just unimaginable tragedy, that we want those who experienced the trauma to be overwhelmed with unimaginable love,” Henning said. “This is just a small way we can show them that, and that there is way more good than the terrible thing that they experienced.”

The plastic ribbons will eventually be removed and that the majority of them will be repurposed into an art project “that will be a permanent way to remind the families of how much Minnesota loves them,” Henning said. “This sign of love is not a momentary sign of love.”

Nashville shooting

Henning, who lives near Annunciation, lived in Nashville in 2023 when a shooter killed three students and three staff members at the Covenant School, a Christian school, in Nashville.

“You don’t have an event like this happen in your community, and it can’t not change you,” she said. “I think the people who experienced it most acutely feel that, but I think everyone in the community feels changed by it. That’s why we don’t want the signs of support to go away because we’re still in it with them, even though we’re in it in a different way with them.”

Henning said she has friends with children who attend Annunciation and has friends with children who attended Covenant.

“I’ve heard so many first- and second-hand accounts of things that no one should ever have to witness, and that comes from the mouths of kids who aren’t even in puberty yet,” she said. “It’s too much, it’s just too much. It’s insane that we haven’t done anything more meaningful yet.”

Moms Demand Action

Kristen Lyrek places a sign in the boulevard median along Summit Avenue in St. Paul on Wednesday. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

Lyrek, a member of Moms Demand Action, part of the gun-violence prevention organization Everytown for Gun Safety, said she hopes blanketing Summit Avenue with ribbons will help raise awareness of the need for new gun-control laws.

“Sometimes it feels like it’s all for nothing, but I hope it makes people think twice about it,” she said. “We want to support all of the families affected by this, but we also want to give people pause about what’s possible if we call a special session for gun control.”

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Lyrek said she is heartened by the number of people who have stopped to thank her as she ties her ribbons along Summit. She brings extra ribbons along in case people would like to tie them around a tree at their house. She also is placing 100 pink signs with the message “Our Hearts are with Annunciation” along the route.

The El Jefe Running Group designs a singlet to wear during each year’s race. It normally features a blue horse, the group’s mascot, but this year’s singlets, which are green and blue, will feature a fish because Fletcher loved to go fishing, something he often did with his dad, Jesse.

Fletcher’s initials, “FAM,” are printed on the fish.