In a misunderstanding following the Clemson-Georgia Tech football game on Sept. 13, city of Clemson workers removed Pilates Social Clemson’s gold ribbons placed around downtown.
On Sept. 14, the studio hosted a pediatric cancer awareness event in which participants hung around 100 ribbons at various places downtown with the intent of bringing awareness to pediatric cancer for the month of September.
“I would love for people to see the bows and say ‘What is that for?’ and look it up, talk to someone and understand that it really is about awareness for pediatric cancer,” Karla Roth-Bardinas, co-owner of Pilates Social, told The Tiger in an interview.
Roth-Bardinas was surprised to see that, only a couple of days later, all the ribbons had been taken down. The bows began to vanish on Monday, and by Wednesday, all had been removed.
“During the week, first I noticed that our bow was missing, but then my assistant manager drove up and down College Avenue, and she called me really, really upset, saying, ‘Karla, they’re all missing’,” Roth-Bardinas said.
Roth-Bardinas posted on social media to alert the public of the ribbons’ removal, and reached out to the mayor of Clemson looking for answers.
“I posted a few stories on our social media, some pictures stating that all 100 bows are gone, and if you’ve seen anything, please let us know. I also texted some business owners and friends of ours at local businesses. Within about five minutes, I had my answer,” Roth-Bardinas continued.
Upon reviewing surveillance and security footage from a downtown business, Roth-Bardinas discovered that a garbage truck had driven by Pilates Social and reversed back to the building. The footage showed a city employee cutting down the bows on the fence.
Mayor Halfacre called Roth-Bardinas and told her that the workers thought the bows were part of a prank involving Georgia Tech after the contested football game on Sept. 13. The city employees assumed that the gold stood for Georgia Tech, not for pediatric cancer awareness.
“I’m just grateful that it wasn’t malicious,” she continued, adding that the bows were meant “to honor children whose lives were lost to pediatric cancer.”
She also said that “the fact that they didn’t know what (the bows) were for really exemplifies that there needs to be more advocacy” for pediatric cancer.
