Several of Liam Payne’s fans came together and organized a somber memorial in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on the first anniversary of the musician’s death.
“We have organized this tribute. We are fans. We love Liam and miss him,” Valeria Riosa exclusively told Us Weekly on Thursday, October 16, revealing that she came to honor Payne along with her husband and daughters, but she has been taking turns all year with other fans to visit the memorial two to three times a week. “We want to have him always in our hearts. We have created this place, we clean it, we keep it [and] we cover it when it rains — all the time.”
News broke in October 2024 that Payne had fallen to his death from a Buenos Aires hotel balcony. Payne, who was 31 years old, is survived by his parents, his siblings, his girlfriend, Kate Cassidy, and his 8-year-old son, Bear, whom he shared with ex-girlfriend Cheryl Cole.
Outside of the hotel where Payne died, fans like Riosa, 46, and Yaquelin Pérez placed flowers, signs and candles in a solemn tribute.
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“We used to do [a] tribute every month. Now, maybe it will be every year, [but] it will continue in the sanctuary, which is a place that we have with him,” Pérez, 25, told Us. “It is the last place where he was. So, for us, it means a lot.”
For Pérez, it was especially important to celebrate Payne’s legacy after his death.
“I grew up with [One Direction] since I was 12, [and] today I’m 25. It was part of my adolescence, a very important part of my life,” Pérez recalled to Us. “It’s very hard, but we’re going to keep … remembering [him] and keep coming [to] this place we have with him.”
Milagros Rojas, another fan, also traveled to the memorial site to pay her respects and place flowers on the makeshift memorial.
“Coming today was very difficult,” Rojas, 28, emotionally told Us. “I didn’t feel like doing anything, and I thought, ‘I’m going to come for him.’ I’m doing what I can.”
Another One Direction fan, a 16-year-old named Lara, traveled to the memorial site for the first time on Thursday, where she brought a letter and a drawing of the late singer.
“I couldn’t come here before. [The news] was horrible,” Lara told Us of learning about Payne’s death. “He was the person who would [walk] into a room and smile at everyone. He was very good [and] he was loved by everyone, especially his bandmates. The guys had a very strong [relationship] with him, his family [and] his friends.”
The fan memorial also gained the attention of Payne’s family. Liam’s father, Geoff Payne, visited the site when he traveled to Argentina to claim his son’s body last year. Liam’s sisters, Ruth Gibbins and Nicola Payne, later shared images of the fan project to their respective social media accounts.
“We have sent his family some letters [through] the city where he was born,” Pérez told Us. “We know that they have received them because a girl who was in England gave those letters to Liam’s family. Ruth [then] uploaded a story on Instagram thanking the fans.”
With reporting by Luciana Arias
