ST. LOUIS • A drizzle didn't keep the region's firefighters from their annual rally here Saturday, nor did it stop families from lining downtown streets to cheer the trucks, sirens blaring.

Hundreds of firefighters descended on St. Louis this weekend for four days of events — a vigil on Thursday, a ball Friday night, the 28th annual rally and parade Saturday and, Sunday, a 9/11 memorial at Art Hill in Forest Park at 8:46 a.m. — the time the first plane struck the World Trade Center in New York City 10 years ago.

The firefighters trucked in, their shaved heads, wrap-around sunglasses and cargo pants on display, from a dozen departments.

And thousands of St. Louisans lined the streets for Saturday's rally.

"I'd say this is one of our biggest years for the rally," said Shawn Bittle, a St. Louis city firefighter and chair of the weekend events.

The parade down Market Street got a slow start. The rain kept sponsor Energizer's pink bunny from suiting up. But by 10:45 a.m., the trucks had fired up and rolled toward City Hall, chiefs and firefighters waving at the public. Some were on duty, but far more were on their own time.

"We're here just for the love it," said James Rubino, a volunteer firefighter for the Buffalo Township Fire Protection District in Louisiana, Mo.

Children goggled at the trucks, some gleaming new and others nearly 100 years old.

Pat Placke, a volunteer firefighter from Washington, Mo., came along with a crank-front 1917 Model T Ford. Placke said the truck was in a junkyard, a tree growing out of it, before a Washington group restored it for events such as this.

"We come every year with this truck," Placke said. "Even if it's raining."

Angela Brock-Bokern, a 9/11 survivor, said she was on the 61st floor of the second World Trade Center tower when the plane hit, and passed firefighters as she was taking the stairs down.

"I'll never forget seeing them go up," said Brock-Bokern, a special projects manager for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter then, now back in St. Louis. "It's something I still haven't resolved. I didn't think anybody should be going up."

Harry Duewell came early, with his family, and got good seats right on the curb.

"I just like to see the old firetrucks, and some of the old guys I worked with," said Duewell, 80, who retired from the city Fire Department in 1987.

St. Louis Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson said events such as this were important. Residents often meet firefighters at the worst times, when the residents' lives are in disarray, he said.

"They're going out when we're coming in," he said.

This is a chance to meet, he said, in good times.