SIDNEY -- The Living Memorial Gardens board and supporters invited the public to celebrate more than 40 years of a quiet garden of memories.

Board President Coleen Langdon opened the Friday evening celebration.

"What we are is 40-plus years, which I think is pretty amazing," Langdon said.

Living Memorial Gardens is located at the south side of Legion Park. It is where the previous city swimming pool was located.

Kathy Script, a 30-year volunteer and former board president, talked about the history of the Living Memorial Gardens.

"Forty years ago, this is when a art teacher named Jane Behrends came to the city council and wanted to save this old swimming pool that we're standing on," she said.

She said reclaiming the swimming pool required removing several years of tumble weeds from the pool. 

"She came up with the idea of having a living memorial garden. So they developed this big area into a terrace sunken garden, and she was kind of in charge of that. And then they moved to the west, and that was dedicated to the United States," she said.

Saturday morning the celebration continued with a ribbon cutting, tours of the gardens and activities for children.