22 THE QUEENS COURIER • SEPTEMBER 5, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Queens remembers 9/11 with vigils and memorial ceremonies
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Queens will join the rest of the nation in
marking the 18th anniversary of the Sept.
11, 2001, terrorist attacks with a number
of vigils and ceremonies across the borough.
As the city has done each year since
the coordinated attacks on the World
Trade Center, the Pentagon and United
Airlines Flight 93, families and elected
offi cials will gather in Lower Manhattan
on the morning of Sept. 11 for a memorial
service at the National September 11
Memorial to read the victims’ names and
off er prayers and words of comfort.
Surprisingly, St. Michael’s Cemetery will
not commemorate the anniversary this
year at its memorials to the fi rst responders,
FDNY members and NYPD offi cers
lost in the attacks like it has in years past.
“Th e numbers of people attending
the ceremony has been declining each
year,” St. Michael’s Cemetery Director of
Community Relations Ed Horn said. “It
really is a shame.”
Ceremonies that will continue include
the following:
Astoria
Th e Port Authority and the United
Community Civic Association host
Musical Sounds of Remembrance
Th ursday, Sept. 12, at McManus Memorial
Park located at 81st Street and Ditmars
Boulevard. Th e PA Pipe Band will be
joined by the Department of Correction
Pipe Band to glorify and celebrate with
song and prayer the thousands of innocent
souls lost on 9/11. Th e program
begins at 7:30 p.m.
Glendale
Continuing to remember the 42 residents
of Glendale, Middle Village,
Ridgewood and Woodhaven who perished
in the 9/11 attacks, hundreds will
gather for a vigil at the 9/11 Memorial
Garden located in the Dry Harbor
Playground. Participants will gather at
the Memorial Stone for a reading of the
names on Sunday, Sept. 15, at 12:30 p.m.
Dry Harbor Playground is at the corner of
Myrtle Avenue and 80th Street.
Forest Hills
Th e fourth annual Run for Rickie 9/11
Memorial Motorcycle Ride to honor
the memory of Richard “Richie” Allen
Peralman, the youngest fi rst responder
lost of 9/11. On Sept. 8, hundreds
of motorcycles and emergency vehicles
will drive from Aqueduct Racetrack to
Ground Zero and back in memory of
Pearlman, who was a member of the
Forest Hills Volunteer Ambulance Corps.
Th e event, which begins at 1 p.m., is
sponsored by the NYC Punishers Law
Enforcement Motorcycle Club and all
proceeds go the Forest Hills Volunteer
Ambulance Corps. To register, visit the
run’s Eventbrite.
Jamaica
Th e third annual 9/11 memorial
Service presented by the JFK Chamber
of Commerce will be held at the ball fi eld
St. Michael’s Cemetery in East Elmhurst, known for its stunning memorials to those lost in the Sept. 11 attacks, will no longer host a memorial ceremony.
Many others will be held around the borough.
at Building 141 at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 11.
A piece of World Trade Center steel will
be positioned on the fi eld with wreaths
and fl ags to commemorate the fateful
day, while moments of silence accompany
the names of those who perished are
read aloud as the Remembrance Bell tolls.
Bayside Hills
Th e Bayside Hills Civic Association will
again pay tribute to the victims of 9/11
at 7 p.m. of Sept. 11. Representatives
of the Police and Fire Departments,
local scout troops, religious leaders, the
Bayside Business Association and the
Bayside Village Business Improvement
District will gather at the northern corner
of Horace Harding Expressway and
Bell Boulevard at the Memorial Garden.
Offi cials will rename the corner “Bayside
Hills 9/11 Memorial Way.”
Howard Beach
Th e headquarters of Engine Company
331/Ladder Company 173 in Howard
Beach will host the neighborhood’s 9/11
memorial with a ceremony beginning at
7:30 p.m. at 158-57 Cross Bay Blvd on
Sept. 11. Th e evening will include prayer,
words of comfort and music.
Middle Village
Juniper Valley Park held one of the
biggest vigils in New York City in the
Photo by Bill Parry
days immediately following the 9/11
attacks. The park will once again host
a candlelight vigil on Sept. 11 from
7:30 to 9 p.m. in the ballfields located
near Juniper Boulevard South and
78th Street. The program includes
music, poems and reflection and participants
are asked to bring lawn chairs,
an American flag and either candles or
a flashlight.
Kew Gardens
Th e Friends of Maple Grove Cemetery
will host a general ceremony honoring
the dozen of 9/11 victims who are interred
there on Sept. 19 at 5 p.m. at 83-15 Kew
Gardens Rd.
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