New York marked the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks with a drone display showing the outline of the Twin Towers, using 2,977 illuminated drones over New York Harbor, one for each victim of the atrocity. Titled "2,977 Lights Over New York Harbor", the tribute was staged on Wednesday night and developed with survivors, victims' families and first responders, running alongside the longstanding Tribute in Light searchlight memorial. The display serves as a poignant, privately funded gesture of remembrance as the city marks a quarter of a century since the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.

The event was organised in collaboration with figures including Brenda Berkman, a former New York Fire Department first responder, and Terry Strada, president of 9/11 Families United, alongside relatives of victims Tom Strada and Stephen Siller. On 11 September 2001, nineteen al-Qaeda hijackers seized four passenger planes, flying two into the Twin Towers, one into the Pentagon, while the fourth crashed in a Pennsylvania field after passengers fought back. The anniversary has also become politically charged, with Mayor Zohran Mamdani, New York's first Muslim mayor, facing criticism from some victims' relatives and Republicans over his appointment of a lawyer who once represented a convicted al-Qaeda member connected to the attacks; Mamdani has said his focus is on honouring victims' families and first responders.