On a windy night at Sherwood Island State Park, the community gathered to honor the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

A total of 161 people with ties to Connecticut were killed on Sept. 11.

"As each year passes, we have more and more people who don’t remember that day," Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz says. "They weren’t alive that day when it happened."

Connecticut holds the remembrance ceremony every year about a week before 9/11 so family members and friends of the victims can attend the annual ceremony held at the site of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11.

Twenty-four years after the attacks, Gov. Ned Lamont says it's important to remember how the community came together in the wake of tragedy.

"That amazing photograph of President George W. Bush with the firefighters and the crumbling buildings behind," Gov. Lamont says. "That's what I'd like to remember as we learn from these tragic episodes, and do everything we can to make sure it never happens again."

The state's official 9/11 memorial is at Sherwood Island State Park.

The Connecticut National Guard used it as a staging area for the state’s relief efforts to New York City.