The public is invited to attend a September 26th dedication service for trees and shrubs donated to the community nature preserve at the Garden City Bird Sanctuary. The service will begin at 3PM by the gazebo at the sanctuary opposite 181 Tanners Pond Road. Families and friends are invited to come early and take a walk through the 9-acre site. Each year, the Bird Sanctuary Directors coordinate the installation of trees, shrubs, and other items donated in simple compliments by the donor or in honor or memory of special people and friends. An informal dedication is scheduled each year to give the donors, families and friends an opportunity to meet and see the sanctuary. The Garden City Bird Sanctuary's "memorial walk" was originally inspired as a means of thanking the Robert Stark family after the passing of their daughter, Lucy, with the planting of a serviceberry shrub and marker. Currently, there are over 100 trees, shrubs, and items, such as bird baths, gardens, storage sheds, and information boards that have been donated.

One of the trees, an American Elm, has been donated through the Garden City Western Property Owners Association in memory and honor of William J. Haynes. Bill was a dedicated husband, father, and friend of the Garden City community, serving many years as a volunteer with the WPOA, village boards and Garden City Community Church. The tree is one of the new street trees on Tanners Pond Road. Many other trees and shrubs have been donated, including ones in memory of Curt Hoera by the Hoera family; in memory of David Goodman by his daughter Robin Koocher, in memory of Mary L Cronin by her son John, a yellow rose bush in memory of the deceased members of the Garden City High School Class of 1979, a honey locust in memory of Peter V. Annunziato by Julie Sequeira, compliments of Chris Delfoe, Francis McDonough, the Oceanside Garden Club, and the Merrick Garden Club, in honor of Gary Lynch by Susan Grant, in memory of Virginia Kritis, a river birch in memory of Carolyn Loranger by Laura Schwartz and family, in memory of Alfred Dieterich by Marye Heston, and a river birch in memory of Elizabeth Taylor compliments of the Garden City Bird Sanctuary.