Copley Square looks — and sounds — like its usual self the week before the marathon.
Street cleaners are out, risers are up and birds are chirping. The finish line has been laid down and in front of stores and restaurants are blue-and-yellow banners and flowers.
Landscape designer Bobbi Shippey, who lives nearby, is planting "a darling little daffodil called a tete-a-tete" and pansies.
“I think we’re all just in awe of what it’s taken to put this together for this time of year and what is going to happen next week is going to, I think, overshadow the sadness of the commemoration,” Shippey said.
Less familiar with the annual event is Denis O’Brien, a tourist from Australia.
“There’s really no evidence of what happened 12 months ago,” he said, standing in front of Marathon Sports.
“I was in Australia and I was watching all that was happening 12 months ago, and it’s amazing to be here and see how everyone is so happy and so vibrant and looking forward to the marathon,” he said.
The unusually warm weather is helping the mood. Nearby, at Trinity Church, Rev. Patrick Ward notes that this is already a hopeful time of year.
“The interesting thing about the one-year anniversary is that it’s coinciding with Holy Week," Ward said. "It’s also the season of Passover, so it’s a very deep spiritual time. But what we’ve also seen around the marathon and its aftermath is a greater story of new life out of death and that is the Easter Story so I think it’s actually a beautiful confluence, convergence of things.”
Ward says he and his congregation continue to grapple with the question of God’s role in the events of last year. Still, for others, life continues on its normal routine, and it’s just another weekday.
"Boston’s kind of chaotic these days," said Keziah Shears a student at Bay State College. "People are nervous. I feel like people are nervous about it."
“It” could be a wide range of things — the emotion of the memorial, the marathon day itself, the sight of the finish line. No one is saying Copley Square feels like it always has in April, but it certainly looks the same.
