Park Tavern crash victims’ families receiving ‘overwhelming’ community support

TONIGHT, MARY MAGUIRE, FOX NINE. ALL RIGHT, MARY, THANK YOU. THE OWNER OF PARK TAVERN CALLING THE SUPPORT FROM THE COMMUNITY AFTER THAT CRASH OVERWHELMING. AND FOX NINES. ROB OLSON IS LIVE THERE FOR US NOW. SO, ROB, YOU SPOKE WITH THE OWNER OF THE RESTAURANT TODAY? YEAH. AND HE SAID THE PARK TAVERN WILL BE REOPENING AT 10:00 TOMORROW MORNING. HE SAID THAT'S IMPORTANT TO A LOT OF THE COMMUNITY WANTS TO COME OUT HERE AND SUPPORT THEM, IN THAT WAY. AND THEY'VE ALSO GOT SOME OTHER RESERVATIONS AND COMMITMENTS. HE DOESN'T WANT TO DISAPPOINT ANYBODY ON THAT. THEY WILL BEGIN, THOUGH, WITH AN ALL STAFF MEETING, AND HE'LL HAVE A GRIEF COUNSELOR ON HAND AS PEOPLE CONTINUE TO TRY TO COPE WITH THIS TRAUMA, BECAUSE HE WAS JUST A BREATH OF FRESH AIR. SHE WAS FUNNY, SHE WAS OUTGOING, SHE WAS BUBBLY. AT THE MEMORIAL OUTSIDE PARK TAVERN. SO MANY PICTURES NOW OF CHRISTINA FOLKERTS, THE SERVER WHO LOST HER LIFE HERE ON SUNDAY NIGHT AT A BENEFIT FOR HER WHEN SHE WAS REALLY SICK, WHOSE OWN MOTHER, LAURA LEE, HAD WORKED HERE FOR DECADES BEFORE HER OWN CANCER DEATH IN 2008. AND OWNER PHIL WEBER NOW HAS SUCH FOND MEMORIES OF BOTH OF THEM. HER MOTHER AND I HAD THIS ONGOING RELATIONSHIP WHERE WE WOULD GIVE EACH OTHER A LOT OF GRIEF AND SHE WOULD NEVER BE AFRAID TO SPEAK HER MIND, AND CHRISTINA WAS THE EXACT SAME WA. SHE WAS THE SPITTING IMAGE OF HER MOTHER, AND THEY WOULD NEVER LET HER FORGET THAT EITHER. THE GOFUNDME FOR CHRISTINA CONTINUES TO GROW RAPIDLY, INCLUDING DONATIONS FROM OTHER RESTAURANTS, NOTABLY A $10,000 DONATION FROM THE COVE RESTAURANT GROUP. YOU CAN'T EVEN SAY ENOUGH NICE THINGS ABOUT THE SUPPORT WE'RE GETTING FROM THE RESTAURANT INDUSTRY. IT'S AMAZING. AND IN THE STREAM OF VISITS TO THIS LOT, SO MANY COMING FROM NEARBY METHODIST HOSPITAL TO HONOR THEIR COWORKER WHO LOST HIS LIFE IN THE COWORKERS WHO WERE INJURED. A GOFUNDME CAMPAIGN IDENTIFYING GABE HARVEY AS THE HEALTH UNIT COORDINATOR AND NURSING STUDENT WHO WAS KILLED CAMPAIGNS TO FOR LAURA KNUDSON, WHO HAD JUST FINISHED HER FINAL SHIFT AT METHODIST, WHICH IS WHY THEY'D GATHERED ON THE PATIO. IT SAYS SHE SUFFERED EXTENSIVE FRACTURES. A GOFUNDME TO FATIGUE AND ALBANY, ALSO A NURSE, ALSO LISTED WITH EXTENSIVE FRACTURES. AND THEO LARSON, A NURSE DESCRIBED AS HAVING MULTIPLE SKULL, FACIAL AND ORBITAL FRACTURES. THE PATIO WHERE THE TRAGEDY HAPPENED HAS BEEN CLEANED UP, THE BROKEN FURNITURE PUT IN DUMPSTERS TUESDAY AND HAULED AWAY. IT WAS TIME TO TAKE IT DOWN. YOU COULDN'T JUST AGAIN THAT REMINDER. IT WAS JUST TOO HARD FOR EVERYBODY. AND WHEN THEY PUT IT ALL BACK AGAIN NEXT SPRING, IT WILL BE LIKELY WITH MORE BARRIERS. SO THIS UNTHINKABLE CANNOT REPEAT IT. JUST MAKE SURE SOMETHING LIKE THIS COULD NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN. AND THEY ALSO PLAN TO ADD HERE ON THIS EMBANKMENT, THIS IS WHERE THE VEHICLE HAD STOPPED. CHRISTINA WAS PINNED UNDERNEATH OF IT. THEY PLANNED TO PUT UP A TREE AND A BOULDER WITH HER NAME