Twenty-five years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, North Fork communities will come together to honor those who were lost and remember the events that changed a nation.
Riverhead Town will begin the local observances at 10 a.m. Sept. 11 with its 25th Anniversary 9/11 Memorial Ceremony at the World Trade Center Memorial Park at Edwards and Riley avenues in Calverton. The ceremony will honor those who died in the attacks and recognize the first responders and recovery workers who served in their aftermath.
That evening, the Sound Park Heights Civic Association will hold its annual candlelight walk and remembrance at the 9/11 Memorial Park on Sound Avenue and Park Road. The walk begins at 5:45 p.m., followed by the ceremony at 6 p.m.
Flanders Fire Department will hold its annual memorial service at 6 p.m. Sept. 11 at Fireman’s Memorial Park on Flanders Road. The park’s World Trade Center memorial incorporates two pieces of steel from the fallen towers.
The Southold Town Fire Chiefs’ Council is holding its annual Southold Town Firefighters’ Memorial and Remembrance Ceremony at Jean Cochran Park in Peconic on Sept. 11. The ceremony will honor those who died on 9/11, with members of fire departments across the North Fork gathering to pay their respects and lay wreaths. The Southold 9/11 Memorial Committee and community members will also place 2,977 American flags across the park in honor of each life lost in the attacks. Attendees gather at 5 p.m. with the official ceremony beginning at 6 p.m.
The anniversary will also be observed through film. At 3 p.m. Sept. 11, CAST in Southold will present 9/11: An American Requiem, a documentary featuring firsthand accounts from World Trade Center responders. The program is scheduled to run until 4:30 p.m.
In Greenport, remembrance will take the stage Sept. 13 when Northeast Stage and the North Fork Arts Center present Anne Nelson’s The Guys, a play about an FDNY captain working with a writer to prepare eulogies for firefighters killed on 9/11.
The production, scheduled for 2 and 6 p.m., stars retired FDNY firefighter Kevin Shea and Eileen Trilli. Shea served with Engine 40/Ladder 35 and survived the World Trade Center response. The 2 p.m. performance is full; tickets are available for the 6 p.m. performance.
Sept. 14, Riverhead Free Library will host “Remembering 9/11: Responder Stories Onscreen and In-Person” from 2 to 4 p.m. The program will combine recorded testimony from the Stony Brook World Trade Center Oral History Project with an in-person question-and-answer session featuring a Long Island responder.
For residents who lived through that September morning, the anniversary remains personal. For younger generations, these events provide an opportunity to learn about the people, sacrifice and community response that followed.
