(Photo: Kathy Willens/AP)

Coming soon: The World Trade Center Memorial road show! As part of Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to raise $300 million for its construction, newly appointed memorial development czar Catherine Blaney and others are considering creating a traveling interactive carnival of patriotic grief, hitting twenty cities across the country. Reps from several high-end PR firms (including Fleishman-Hillard, Dan Klores, Ketchum, and Linden Alschuler & Kaplan) met with Blaney to compete for a “seven-figure” contract to facilitate the exhibit. According to one flack, one of the foundation’s ideas is to take the steel beams that will be used for the memorial’s structure and have people autograph them (like a cast on a broken leg) for, say, a buck. Or have people sign for free and ask them for donations. “The general hook of their concept is that if you haven’t seen the Trade Center in New York yet, we can take it to you and raise some dough,” says the pitcher. “There’s also a concession component, which is a bit cheesy.” Already, the foundation has raised $253 million for the memorial. “The memorial is a national tribute,” says spokeswoman Lynn Rasic, “and we’re in the planning stages of how to make the experience as interactive as possible.”

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