Many of them were parents who brought their kids.
"I know you're trying to figure out what it all means," Nicole Krout said to her daughter on Sunday morning.
Krout brought her three children to the site.
"I know you're not quite sure what to make of it all," she told them.
"Is it scary?" she asked her son.
"Yeah," he said.
"Do you guys talk about it at school?" she asked him.
He said they did.
Parents like Krout know how difficult it is for their children. But they brought them to the memorial site, with purple balloons, stuffed animals and notes placed along the road.
"We thought bringing them here might allow them to kind of understand what it all really is," Krout said.
"It was important for the kids to have some sense of closure," she added.
Still, the decision on what to say - and how to say it - is far from easy.
"I don't know," said Kenneth Nadeau, who took his son. "How do we start talking to our kids about this? That there's people out here who will take you and kill you."
Nadeau began to cry when he approached the memorial.
"It's that innocence is being stolen, and that bothers me," Nadeau said. "In the society we live in today we always worry what our kids are doing."
On Sunday, Denver Public Schools sent out an email sent originally by the Boulder Valley School District about talking to kids about the tragedy:
The news of Jessica Ridgeway's death can be extremely unsettling for both children and parents. As such, we hope to provide parents with information that will help them to talk to their children about Jessica's death.
The most important thing that any parent can do is to remind the child that they're safe, that they're loved, that they are supported, that this is a very horrible thing that happened, but that they're going to be okay. The first thing kids always ask is why. It is very important not to focus on trying to answer the why, but to listen to their feelings, to bring them back to how they are feeling, and to what we can do to help the child feel better.
When talking with children about death, it is very important to be truthful. With younger children, it is important that they understand the concept of death, and parents should use honest and direct language to help explain what death means.
Finally, it is important to allow children to express their feelings openly and honestly while consistently reminding children that they are safe and that the child who died did not DO anything wrong.
If younger children are unaware of the situation, this event may only prompt you to talk about Stranger Danger- talking to your children about the dangers of interacting with someone they don't know. It is important not to combine the Stranger Danger conversation with a conversation about her death, as this may scare children unnecessarily that any conversation with a stranger could lead to death.
Parents also need to acknowledge their own feelings. It is a natural reaction to be extra cautious at this time. However, if as a parent you feel that you are at an extreme level of cautiousness, you might want to seek professional, therapeutic support.
According to the National Association of School Psychologists, parents can use the following tips to talk to children about tragic events.
* Be reassuring.
* Be a good listener and observer.
* Monitor the news.
* Emphasize people's resiliency.
* Highlight people's compassion and humanity.
* Maintain as much continuity and normalcy as possible.
* Spend family time.
* Do something positive with your children to help others in need.
* Ask for help if you or your children need it.
(KUSA-TV © 2012 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)