The fifth anniversary of the tragedy is Thursday April 6th.  File photo/paNOW 

By Doug Lett

Parent reflects on Broncos anniversary

Parent reflects on Broncos anniversary

Mar 31, 2023 | 5:00 PM

For Carol Brons, it’s hard to believe it’s been five years since the Humboldt Broncos bus tragedy on April 6th, 2018. Her daughter Dayna was badly injured in the crash, and died five days later.

“Seems like yesterday. It also seems like forever,” said Brons. .”A lot of people say that first year is hard. For myself, I’d have to say the second year was just as hard, and with COVID and being away from people, I think it gave me a little bit of time to think and reflect.”

Dayna Brons was the athletic therapist for the Broncos. She was 24 years old when she died, one of 16 killed in the crash. Another 13 were injured.

“It’s another marker, a milestone,” said her mother. “It’s hard— it’s hard to believe it’s that long.”

In spite of the pain, Brons has been very involved with the Humboldt Bronco Memorial Committee, which has been working on several projects related to the team’s legacy.

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She helped plan the memorial for the fifth anniversary, which includes a come-and-go gathering at the Elgar Peterson Arena in Humboldt, as well as a compilation of video tributes that will be played on the arena’s jumbotron, and published online.

At 4:50 p.m. on April 6th, the approximate time of the crash, the bells at St Augustine church will toll 29 times. The city of Humboldt is also encouraging people to observe a moment of silence at 4:50, no matter where they are.

Brons said they tried to come up with plans that are flexible.

“I think anyway that you stop to remember it is a good way to do it,” she said.

“There’s still a feeling amongst some of the family members, as well as some of the people in the community that we need to continue to stop for a few minutes and mark it in some way,” she said. “So this is a way of doing it, without making expectations of people to be there in person….they don’t feel that they have to be there in person to be able to take part.”

While the event is in memory of the 2017-18 Broncos and their families, Brons said other people were also deeply affected by the tragedy.

“We’ve always wanted to be able to say thank you to people that were there and have been there to support the families and the city and the Broncos for the last five years,” she said. “We know that a lot of people in the northeast area were directly affected because they were on scene in the hospitals or had connections through the hockey’s family…I just want to say thank you to everybody that has been there to help us through this. And I hope you will give yourself some time and space to heal from this tragedy as well,” said Brons.

She added having a more public celebration this year is significant, because of pandemic restrictions the last few years.

“It’s another milestone because it seems like the last three years, we’ve kind of lost track, you know, being able to come together as families and as far as crowds. So now it’s getting back into that,” she said, “but it definitely doesn’t take away any of the difficulty in thinking about the last five years.”

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doug.lett@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @DougLettSK