At the event, at Point Lookout Beach in Hempstead, residents wrote messages and names of victims on a panorama of the New York City skyline.
"It's just a very sad day for everyone," resident Sheila Panzavecchia said. "I just hope no one forgets all those people."
They threw carnations at the foot of the 9/11 memorial. They also placed flags jotting down names of the victims or words of remembrance.
CLICK HERE to see images from the ceremony.
A new addition to the annual ceremony this year was a wall where people could write to the ones who died, whether they knew them or not.
Dawn Haskell, of Seaford, lost both her brothers in the attacks. Timmy was 34 and Tommy was 37.
"It's tough to revisit it all the time like this, but we always like coming here," she said. "It's very special to come here. And my brothers were always surfing down here and stuff like that, so it,s nice for that."
Many of the people paying their respects included prayers for service men and women overseas.
Levittown Fire Commissioner John Rottkamp remembered Fire Chief Ronald Cohen, who also was an FDNY lieutenant.
Rottkamp says Cohen was a great family man and a great fireman - and he considers that the highest kind of honor.
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