GARDEN CITY — At the base of some disused stairs at the old Garden City Elementary School, a box of artifacts from the not-too-distant past lies buried, waiting to be unearthed so the people who put it there can remember their younger years and reflect on how life, since then, has changed.

On February 27, they’ll get their chance. The contents of the time capsule — placed by former students at the now-closed school — will see their first taste of daylight in nearly a decade, when some of those same students and members of the community bring their shovels out to dig up a piece of their past.

“I don’t remember what I put in there,” says former Garden City student Zac Hamilton, who’s helping organize the event. “We were in fourth grade when it went in the ground.

“We’ve been trying to get in touch with some of the people who went to school at Garden City so they can come back and participate when we dig it up. I kind of don’t want to get anybody mad at me for hearing about it after the fact, so it would be great if anyone who was a part of this back then wants to come.”

Now a high school senior and still a Garden City resident, Hamilton said the capsule contains items chosen by students; part of a project in which the kids also were asked to write an essay about the world they’d someday expect to live in. For him and other former Garden City students, it’s just one of many great memories they share about their time at the school, which was shut down in 2015 after the Cullman County Board of Education deemed structural issues at the historic building — long a centerpiece of the close-knit community — too costly to repair.

“I can say that, for everybody, it was probably the best elementary school that we’ve ever gone to,” said Hamilton. “It holds a special place in our lives.”

The time capsule event is open to anyone who wishes to attend, and will take place at the school building — now the property of the town — on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 1 p.m.