MAYFIELD, Ky. (WDRB) -- It's been one year since a long-track tornado ripped through parts of western Kentucky.

One of the hardest hit areas was the small city of Mayfield.

The candle factory is just one place where the devastation was heartbreaking. The tornado slammed into the factory with more than 100 people still inside.

In total, nine people there were killed and 24 total died in Graves County from the tornado.

On Saturday, the community remembered the lives that were lost by participating in a two mile long walk from the old Mayfield Consumer-Products site to the Mayfield Court Square and other events.

"It is such a roller coaster of emotions today," Mayfield Mayor Kathy Stewart O'Nan said. "We have concentrated the last few months so much on the rebuilding of this area, where we're standing our downtown, which is completely gone."

The tornado traveled more than 100 miles on the ground, hitting counties in Tennessee at 9 p.m. and it wouldn't stop until it struck Grayson County in Kentucky at 11:55 p.m.

It was part of a system that would spawn 66 tornadoes across the county. There were 81 people who died from the tornado.

Mayfield was one of the first Kentucky communities hit and it came just before 9:30 p.m. that evening.

IMAGES | Mayfield, Kentucky faces a long recovery after December tornado

"Hope looks like rebuilding, the spirit of these people will always remain the same," O'Nan said. "These are the most resilient most amazingly bonded together people I've ever known in my life."

The candle factory was leveled by the tornado as workers were forced to keep working with Christmas just two weeks away.

There's now a memorial at the factory made from stainless steel from the original building with nine candles to represent the nine lives lost.

The devastation is still prevalent and O'Nan says her city will never look, be, or feel the same.

"Our backdrop will change the backdrop of everyone who grew up here is gone," O'Nan said. "But what we're striving for is to build a new backdrop for those to come the next 50 years the next 100 years and we can't do it overnight. But I hope that by the 10 year mark, we have our new backdrop then."

In total, 3,778 homes, 183 businesses and 103 buildings were destroyed. The candle factor has since been rebuilt in Hickory, just 10 minutes from Mayfield.

Many of the buildings that were damaged have been torn down. In the city, there's a mix of new homes and empty lots of land.

There will also be a memorial service at War Memorial Stadium at 3:30 p.m. Saturday where Governor Andy Beshear is expected to attend.

"There's potential to replace every building we lost but these people are not replaceable," O'Nan said. "And so today, I think we focus on their families and surround them and support them as best we can."

Related Stories:

Copyright 2022 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.