Hempstead Town To Hold Socially Distant Seaside 9/11 Ceremony

LIDO BEACH, NY — The Town of Hempstead is moving forward with its annual 9/11 remembrance ceremony, which this year will be socially distanced due to the coronavirus.

The annual program, which the town says is the largest 9/11 service on Long Island, is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. on Sept. 12 at the Town Park Point Lookout, on Lido Boulevard in Lido Beach.

Friends, neighbors, clergy, family members of victims and all of those impacted by the events of Sept. 11 will gather in a socially distanced manner for a sunrise ceremony that will salute the victims of 9/11.

The ocean-side program will feature a speech by a family member of a late NYPD detective who died of a 9/11-related illness, and was known for his advocacy for fellow victims of Sept. 11.

Hempstead Town’s 9/11 Memorial Park includes ocean views, an elevated memorial walkway, a 30-foot-tall beam from the north tower of the World Trade Center and a giant memorial table inscribed with Walt Whitman’s “On the Beach at Night.” The names of victims are etched on the monument and a directional plaque points to the location where the Twin Towers stood.

The ceremony is held on the beach, where many Long Islanders gathered on Sept. 11, looking westward in disbelief to the smoke rising from Ground Zero.