Students disappointed after 9/11 tribute canceled

PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. (WSVN) -- A South Florida school choir who wanted to pay tribute to Sept. 11 were disappointed after their performance was canceled.

Seventy-five students from the Coconut Palm Elementary school choir were all born after the historic terrorist attacks but wanted to pay tribute to the lives lost in the tragedy.

Choir instructor Ana Conner was teaching them "God Bless America," and arranged her class to sing inside the Pembroke Pines Walmart on this past Sept. 11. "We just wanted this to be in tribute," said Conner.

Conner said her group arrived on Tuesday to the store, but the manager working at the time was not the one she had arranged the concert with. The manager then canceled the concert and police were called. "On a scale from one to 10, a 10 as far as disappointment goes," said Conner.

A Walmart spokesperson released a statement, which read: "We regret this happened and apologize to the students, parents and the school for this experience. This was a situation of miscommunication."

Parent Grace Cappelli said, "My daughter was very concerned, she had felt that she had done something wrong."

Even though the students were not allowed to sing inside the store, they performed their version of "God Bless America" outside in parking lot.

A spokesperson for Walmart said the tribute concert will be rescheduled.

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