12th Annual Winterfest: A Time for Community and Shared Purpose

On Saturday, January 11, 2020, the Board of Directors of the Garden City Bird Sanctuary, Inc. (“GCBS”) invites everyone to join us for our annual Winterfest celebration. What is Winterfest? As I’ve written in previous years, it is a holiday we on the GCBS Board of Directors began in 2009 to honor all our members and supporters. It is full of meaningful ceremonies and traditions which reflect the three virtues that any community needs to survive: volunteerism, environmental stewardship, and hope.

Humanity has always flourished in communities. Interdependence is needed for survival. We have a nuclear family, then an extended family and close friends, which continues further into our surrounding neighborhood, state, and country. At Winterfest, we seek to celebrate and strengthen the bond of community that exists in Garden City between families. In so doing, we remember our common purpose, and come forth with a greater resolve to be part of the solution to the problems which afflict the world.

When we thrive together as a community, it means enhancing our capacities for empathy, communication, and love. I like to think that the Board of Directors of the GCBS, and all our supporters, lead the way. We come together in pure volunteerism to solve problems collaboratively, with hope for the future, and in the spirit of environmental stewardship. The result has been the turning of a former sump (think: "garbage dump”) into a beautiful green jewel of environmental preservation.

With the advent of technology, expanding populations, and people concentrating on their own needs more and more, the sense of community is disappearing. People leave behind deeper connections to each other, to a shared story, and to our planet. “There’s too much going on in my life to interact with my next door neighbor, but I’ll post a note on his Facebook timeline.” Pollution, exploitation, and a sense of isolation plague our modern society like never before. As a result of being consumed in ourselves and only being connected to others technologically, we’ve lost the deeper sense of belonging and purpose we once had.

At Winterfest, we seek to engender a sense of belonging because you feel safety and comfort, which will lead us to be more willing to act with hospitality and generosity in our personal lives; it is something that gets “paid forward” with good effects that spiral outward into the whole world. There are no strangers who come to help at the GCBS, only friends we haven’t met.

Isn’t this reason enough to join us on January 11, 2020?

The GCBS began as a nine acre storm water basin and was transformed into a beautiful Bird Sanctuary and nature preserve that can be enjoyed by generations to come. It’s amazing what we can accomplish together. If you don’t think one person can make a change for the better, join the rest of us who banded together to contribute our talents and make a difference together as a unified “one.”

Winterfest begins at 4 pm as twilight approaches. As our supporters file in, there is warm cocoa to drink as we fill the birdfeeders and put up some decorations for our fine feathered friends. About 4:30, we have a poem recitation around our evergreen trees. Then we culminate the event with our Candle-lighting Ceremony in which we have the “Great Telling.” Just as some Native Americans have a ceremony that describes the history of their tribe, the Directors tell the story of the GCBS and Winterfest itself.

Each Director tells a part of the story. During the ceremony we will publicly honor two of our outstanding volunteers from 2019 and then remember with gratitude all those who contributed in the past, and those who currently contribute with time and talent or by donations.

At Winterfest we also remember the past year’s accomplishments and dream of the ones to come in 2020. Symbolism is an integral part of any tradition because it links tangible objects and ritual to the intangible ideals, emotions and ideas we wish to hold on to and pass along. We can’t see love, but we all realize it through the giving of the red roses and heart shaped box of chocolates on St. Valentine’s Day! During the Great Telling you will learn why: we start at dusk, we have our holiday in January, we use green candles, we express the three characteristics of Winterfest in the Latin language, and much, much more!

Finally, you will hear the ultimate message of hope that we pass on at Winterfest which is…ALL WINTERS MUST COME TO AN END. Not just seasonal winters, but the “winters” of social problems, economic problems, relationship problems, health problems, etc. The great religions of the world tell us even the winter of death itself will give way to a spring of new life. So come on down January 11, 2020 to the GCBS and discover Winterfest: a modern holiday celebrating timeless ideals which make communities work! Won’t you become part of our community? The GCBS is at 182 Tanners Pond Road. The gates open at 3:30 pm. The event is free and open to the general public. It ends at approximately 5 pm. Hope to see you there!