A surprise discovery was made on September 25, just two days before the one year mark of Hurricane Helene. Crews working to restore the Lake Lure boat marina discovered a section of the Rainbow Bridge. LLFB volunteer Amy Wald cleaned, counted and cataloged the newly found collars. Crews found 101 collars that day, increasing the total number discovered to 237.
The Rainbow Bridge located on the grounds of the Lake Lure Flowering Bridge was once covered with thousands of pet collars before Helene caused widespread destruction. People hung the collars on the bridge as a remembrance of their pets. The bridge is a metaphor. Pets who have died play on the rainbow bridge and wait to reunited with their owners to enter heaven together.
The plan is to place all the recovered collars on the replacement Rainbow Bridge. Construction is set to start in the spring…