Come Celebrate Winterfest 2.0 at the Garden City Bird Sanctuary!

Come Celebrate Winterfest 2.0 at the Garden City Bird Sanctuary

By John W. Cronin, President Emeritus and First VP of the

Garden City Bird Sanctuary’s Board of Directors

On January 11, 2025, The Garden City Bird Sanctuary, Inc. (GCBS) will celebrate its 17th annual Winterfest. Many of you are probably wondering what Winterfest is, and why you should go out in the cold to attend. Simply put, it is a holiday we on the GCBS Board of Directors began in 2009 to honor all our volunteers and donors. It is full of meaningful ceremonies and traditions which reflect the three virtues that any community needs to survive; volunteerism, environmental stewardship, and hope.

The GCBS is a community in a real sense as it offers you a place of belonging and calls for us to acknowledge our interdependence on each other and on nature. To belong has two meanings; to be part of something greater than oneself (I belong to that family, that house of worship, etc.) and ownership (that object belongs to me). The Board and the volunteers/donors belong to the GCBS in both senses of that word.

It calls on the greater communities of Garden City, Nassau County, New York State, and the United States to emulate our lead. We, on the Board, govern collaboratively, and all our members and volunteers are asked to be investors, owners, and creators of all we are and hope to become. There are no strangers who come to help at the GCBS, only friends we haven’t met.

This year the GCBS is trying to raise awareness of the environmental nine-acre jewel and what we do, so all may come down and enjoy what we have to offer. Some may be inspired to join the Volunteer Corps and help us achieve even greater things.

Winterfest will be better than ever as the GCBS is celebrating its 30-year anniversary on June 1st (Winterfest 2.0)! We celebrate volunteerism, which is giving with no expectation of return. It’s been said that when you volunteer, it’s not about what you give or what you get, it’s about who you become as a result of it. We celebrate environmental stewardship because this Earth is the only home we have, so let’s treat it as such. Finally, we celebrate hope, the reasonable expectation of a better tomorrow because of the work people of good will do today. With all the bad things going on in the world, aren’t these ideals worth coming out to celebrate? Won’t you join us?

The gates will open at 3:45 pm. At 4pm sharp, we will have the “Cleansing Space,” a ceremony wherein we get rid of those negative emotions that have been holding us back and symbolically put them onto sticks and let the campfire “burn them away.” Then Board President Brook Brown will lead us on the “Good Journey.” All participants are given an electric green candle as we walk around the Sanctuary stopping at several points to get in touch with nature and celebrate one of our ideals (Volunteerism, environmental stewardship, and hope).

The message is clear. “Live the journey of life! We never say goodbye but ‘Good Journey” for every destination is but a doorway that leads to another.” At Winterfest, we also remember the past year’s accomplishments and dream of the ones to come in 2025. 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! Likewise, you see the ideals in our ceremonies.

We conclude with The Great Telling. 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, 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, 2025 (snow date 1/18) 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 opposite 182 Tanners Pond Road. The gates open at 3:45 pm. The event is free and open to the general public. It ends at approximately 5 pm. Hope to see you there.