Photo by Benji Dunaief
Photo by Benji Dunaief
Photo by Benji Dunaief
Photo by Benji Dunaief

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forty years ago during America’s bicentennial, our publisher and founder Leah Dunaief set out with a simple goal: to make a publication that would deliver excellence each and every week. What started as The Village Times has grown into a newspaper and multimedia group spanning communities from Wading River to Huntington and Cold Spring Harbor.

To celebrate our 40th anniversary and our many accomplishments through the decades, we embarked on a beautiful sunset cruise aboard the P.T. Barnum Ferry, sailing across the North Shore along with some 300 guests and members of the Times Beacon Record staff.

Photo by Ellen Segal
Photo by Ellen Segal

This sunset cruise was a real party, complete with an honorary cruise director (Michael Tessler), delicious catering by Elegant Eating, the vocal talents of the Stony Brook University High C’s all-male A Cappella group, music and dancing from Dynamike Entertainment, as well as an exclusive sneak peek of our upcoming digital attraction the “Culper Spy Adventure” (with special thanks to Circadian Studios).

Much to the surprise of the audience was also an exciting live-action sequence featuring local hero and swashbuckling whaleboat captain turned patriot lieutenant, Caleb Brewster, as well as members of the Third NY regiment and cast of our soon to be released film.

Many dignitaries joined the celebration including Assemblyman Steve Englebright, Suffolk Comptroller John M. Kennedy, Jr. and Legislator Leslie Kennedy. They presented publisher Leah Dunaief with a proclamation, and Englebright spoke of the importance of local news and of our valuable impact in the community over the years.

Photo by Ellen Segal
Photo by Ellen Segal

“I’ve lived in Suffolk County all my life, ladies and gentlemen, two months short of sixty years. I love this county and I know it would be far less of a place without Leah Dunaief and the Times Beacon Record,” said Comptroller Kennedy. He concluded by saying, “On behalf of the 1.5 million people of Suffolk County we commend Leah Dunaief and the staff … and wish them many more decades of great reporting and great success.”