Drug dealers are designing and manufacturing fentanyl-laced drugs to resemble name-brand prescriptions. Stock photo
The Town of Brookhaven Council District 1 Drug Prevention Coalition and the Center for Prevention and Outreach’s SB IMPACT Coalition will be hosting a drive-thru wellness and drug takeback day.
Partnering with the Port Jefferson Station/Terryville Civic Association, on Saturday, April 24, from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. people can visit the Port Jefferson Station/Terryville Chamber Train Car at the southeast corner of Route 112 and Route 347 (entrance on Rose Avenue).
Officers from the Suffolk County Police Department 6th Precinct will be there to collect expired and unused prescription drugs.
The Town of Brookhaven E-Waste Recycling will gather vaping products.
Visitors may turn in any expired, unused or unwanted pill/capsule medications, vaping devices and vaping cartridges. Liquids and needles cannot be accepted.
There will also be a food drive for local food pantries.
Above: Mayor Margot Garant with Timmy McNaulty, Brier Fox, Blake Wlischar and Grant Welischar pose for a picture while cleaning up the beach. Photos by Julianne Mosher
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Photo by Julianne Mosher
Photo by Julianne Mosher
Photo by Julianne Mosher
Photo by Julianne Mosher
Photo by Julianne Mosher
Photo by Julianne Mosher
Above: Mayor Margot Garant with Timmy McNaulty, Brier Fox, Blake Wlischar and Grant Welischar pose for a picture while cleaning up the beach. Photos by Julianne Mosher
The community came together to make sure the Village of Port Jefferson’s shoreline is squeaky clean.
Hometown Hope, a local nonprofit made up of local residents who love, support and want to do good within the village, hosted its first annual beach cleanup event at all Port Jefferson-area beaches.
On Sunday, April 18, more than 200 volunteers, in conjunction with Sea Tow, Sheep Pasture Landscaping and Maggio Environmental, gathered (safely with masks) at the private beaches outlining Port Jeff. Starting at Centennial Beach, through Belle Terre Beach, McCallister Park, West Beach and East Beach, families and local groups gloved up to fill dozens of garbage bags on the warm and sunny day.
Diane Tafuro, a board member with Hometown Hope, said creating an event like this was a “no brainer.”
“We’re trying to get back to the community and keep our beaches clean,” she said. “Which is one of the best things about Port Jefferson village.”
Tafuro said this isn’t just a one-time thing the group plans to do.
With the mission statement to provide and connect resources and support in times of need to all Port Jeff Village residents by promoting a movement of spreading kindness. Hometown Hope strives to uplift through wellness, resilience and compassionate understanding within the community.
The local Cub Scout troop took one section, while varsity athletes cleaned up East Beach. There, they found a large, heavy tire filled with sand.
“This is exactly the type of thing why we love to live here,” Mayor Margot Garant said. “Our community comes together, and they teach their kids to start loving the place that they live … That’s why we call ourselves Port Jeff Strong.”
To find out more about Hometown Hope visit their website at hometownhopepj.org.
People can take as many pictures of their friends at the new interactive selfie museum. Photo by Julianne Mosher
It’s a new place to play and all are welcomed to it.
Popup Speakeasy is an interactive photobooth museum, that allows people to come in and take as many pictures in different settings.
“It really is for us a place where people can be creative,” said co-owner Catherine Ovejas. “It’s a selfie studio, you come and take your own pictures, or can come with a photographer, and you get access to the whole studio.”
Located at 1860 Pond Road in Ronkonkoma, like a speakeasy of the past, it’s hidden in plain sight. From the outside of the building, one wouldn’t know what to expect when they walk through the front door — a warehouse of 14 different stations from all different eras and scenes.
Ovejas said that each season the stations will change.
Visitors of the Popup Speakeasy can choose from 14 different photobooth stations. Photo by Julianne Mosher
But right now, there’s a “record room,” decorated with a wall of vinyls and a boombox, a picnic scene where friends can pretend to pop champagne, and a pink repurposed Volkswagen bus tucked away in the back.
“It’s a nod to pop culture,” she said. “I love retro things. So, you will see a lot of vintage things … things from the 70s, 80s and 90s.”
She said the idea for a selfie museum came amidst the pandemic. Between production, construction and the creation of each theme, they began the process a little more than six months ago, choosing Ronkonkoma as a central location that everyone interested can get to.
As far as she and her team know, she said, this is the first selfie studio in the whole state.
“There are pop-up photo experiences that have taken place in and around Manhattan,” she said. “But those are more of a museum-type experience where you’re taking pictures of the exhibits, not so much of yourself.”
Oveja encourages visitors to express themselves.
“We want you to go crazy,” she said. “We want you to interact with the scenes and the different themes and make it your own story.”
She added, “It’s not about looking at an exhibit and admiring it from a distance. I want you to actually bring your personality into the theme.”
For just $25 an hour (at the adult rate), visitors get access to the whole studio. Using an online booking system, the space is reservation-only. Social distancing is required, as are masks — except for when a quick photo is being taken in the scene.
Oveja said they are allowing one group at a time, and the whole studio (plus the props) are sanitized before and after each use.
Children are also encouraged to come and enjoy the studio, where kids ages five to 12 are just $15.
“This is a judgment free zone, we want you to be yourself, have a great time and bring your own personality to the table,” she said.
Co-owner Jose Rivera said the ultimate goal is to franchise, and those future locations will have their own vibe.
“There’s no limit to how far we can go how far we can go,” he said. “We’re looking forward to collaborating with as many businesses as we can.”
Bill and Lauren Brown, the new owners of SkinMed Spa in Port Jefferson. Photo by Julianne Mosher
A new spa has opened up Down Port, but it’s different than the rest.
Lauren Brown, a village resident and registered cosmetic nurse, decided during the COVID-19 pandemic that she wanted to own her own space.
“I’ve always wanted to do something like this,” she said. “The pandemic just got me reevaluating life and seeing what really matters and where my passions are.”
With her husband, Bill, on board to help, Brown officially took over the former Max & Millie storefront at 142 E Main Street in February. She said it felt like destiny.
In the industry for eight years, Brown has worked for dermatologists and plastic surgeons. While in those offices, she noticed that patients were tired of taking medications, antibiotics and putting chemicals into their skins.
“I thought about it and there are so many great, all-natural treatments out there and other things that we can do instead of always loading ourselves up with medicine,” she said.
So that’s when she got to work.
After finding the space in January, and signing the lease a month later, she and her husband completely revamped inside the former clothing boutique that closed in December.
“I’ve noticed that a lot of the businesses that do really well around here are many of these holistic businesses, because people are looking for more natural treatments to take care of their skin,” she said.
SkinMed Spa offers all the things that a typical spa doesn’t bring to the table.
“We are a place that offers all-natural rejuvenation services that are really targeting conditions of the hair, skin and nails,” Brown said.
An inside look at SkinMed Spa in Port Jefferson. Photo by Julianne Mosher
Some treatments are for thinning hair, hair loss, acne and its scars, facial rejuvenation for fine lines and the breakdown of collagen. Brown said that SkinMed Spa is a place where troublesome issues can be fixed.
“If you actually have something going on in your skin, or you’re trying to maintain your skin to keep it up, this is the place for you,” she said. “I just wanted to offer a very calming and relaxing environment where people could just come and look around and even ask questions.”
Brown said her spa is a place where there is no judgement. Part of her store is an apothecary where she will sell affordable skin products that won’t break the bank.
“We sell affordable skincare products that are all natural that don’t have any dyes, sulfates or chemicals in them,” she said. “And customers can actually sit down with someone who knows about skin, and that I can help guide them in the right place to help treat some of these conditions.”
SkinMed Spa officially opened its doors on April 1 and since then, Brown has already gotten dozens of happy clients.
“What I’ve noticed over the last two weeks is everyone that I’ve been treating — within 24 hours — their relative or best friend is booking a treatment which honestly makes me feel over the moon,” she said. “I’m not just trying to do a facial treatment. I really wanted to have people’s skin be transformed and be happy with it.”
Bill said the services his wife offers are medical grade.
“You’re getting that kind of quality without going to a doctor’s office,” he said. “You’re getting real quality service in a more boutique kind of fashion.”
Some of the services include micro needling, which helps regenerate cells, plasma lifts, microdermabrasion, dermaplane, jet peels and no-needle lip plumping with hyaluronic acid.
“I wanted it to be almost like when you’re walking in the city, and you find like a really cool, swanky place,” she said.
But without the price tag. Brown said the services offered are a fraction of the cost compared to a doctor’s office.
“I wanted to be different where people could escape and you could think about yourself for a little bit,” she said. “How many how often do we put ourselves first? This is a place where you can relax, you can turn everything off, focus on yourself for a good hour, and go home with some stuff that makes you feel happy without spending a ton of money.”
SkinMed Spa is taking appointments online. To book, visit skinmedspapj.com.
“If it’s not the right service for you, we’ll talk about it,” Brown said. “It’s not we’re not going to just do something if it’s not right for your skin.”
The Village Boutique saw an opportunity a few storefronts away and decided to move in.
The former Thomas Kinkade art gallery located at 128 Main Street in the village has stayed vacant for more than 13 months, said Abby Buller, The Village Boutique’s owner.
So she talked to her landlord — who owns her former spot at 216A Main as well as the Kinkade space — and decided to move down the street.
“I think the location is a little bit better and because of the way this store is configured, it allowed me to expand more into shoes and accessories the other store didn’t allow me to do,” Buller said.
And the new store is a better fit.
Since originally opening up in May 2019, Buller said her store carries a variety of women’s apparel for ages 16 and up. The new, much larger, space allowed her to begin selling footwear and more accessories.
“I’ve always wanted to have shoes in my store, but the back storage area was just too small,” she said. “This gave me two storage areas, and the space to display shoes of the other store didn’t have — so the configuration is what’s different.”
Buller said after things opened back up, she wanted to use the opportunity and start fresh. In January, she and her landlord came to an agreement, closing down her former location on Feb. 23.
It took her and her business partner about two weeks to move everything over, steam it all, barcode it and of course do some construction and cleaning up. The new Village Boutique opened on March 15.
“I’m getting people into the store who said, ‘Are you new?’ and when I said no, they would say they never saw me up the block,” she said. “So, I think the new location will pay itself off in the end.”
Owner Abby Buller inside her new space. Photo by Julianne Mosher
The Village Boutique, Buller said, is the type of place where a shopper won’t have to step foot inside a big-box store, or shop online, ever again. She personally shops for her inventory in the city and brings in designers from all over the world.
“If I can’t touch the clothes, I can’t buy them,” she said. “Because we first look for style, then when we look with touch. If you don’t like the way it feels, you’re not going to buy something.”
She also said she has a price point for everyone’s budget.
“We have a little bit of Manhattan in Suffolk County,” she said.
Buller said the last couple of years she has grown her shop in the village has even led her to now make the jump to move out here, herself.
Born and raised in Queens, since 2019 she has been commuting the almost two-hour drive to Port Jeff every day.
She said she just sold her place in Bayside, and is looking to find a new place in the Port Jefferson, Rocky Point or Mount Sinai areas to call home.
“I remember being a child and a day trip for us would be coming out to Port Jeff,” she said. “So, when I decided to own a business, my concept was that I didn’t want to be in a strip mall. I wanted to be in a town. And I had such fond memories of this village so I took the jump.”
The Village Boutique is open Monday through Thursday 11 a.m. until 5 p.m., 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. Sunday’s.
Members from the Port Jefferson Community Garden Committee at the Beach Street location.
Photo by Julianne Mosher
Just in time for spring, Port Jefferson’s community garden is planned and ready to get started.
On March 15, the Village Board of Trustees voted an overwhelming “yes” to the new pilot community garden program.
The idea behind it, Trustee Rebecca Kassay — who “planted the seed” on the project — said it would be able to give residents an opportunity to grow local, organic food and enjoy outdoor recreation together, while creating learning opportunities for its villagers. The garden would be dedicated to maintaining parkland and be a staple to the community.
And she felt that this quaint area could benefit from its own garden.
“I’ve been around vegetable gardens since I was born,” she said. “My father kept — and still keeps — an impressive half-acre in St. James.”
After completing a degree in Environmental Studies, she moved to Harlem where she found a tense neighborhood being gentrified had one common ground — Jenny Benitez’s community garden in Riverside Park.
“It was in my time volunteering there that I most clearly saw how this simple human tradition humbles, delights and invites unity between people from all ages and backgrounds,” she said.
Since November 2020, a group of 11 residents volunteered their time to become part of the Community Garden Committee, hoping to launch the garden on an abandoned, vacant plot of land on Beach Street.
Village gardener Caran Markson said that a long time ago, the land was once a playground with broken-down equipment. Since it was removed, it has been bare, looking for a new purpose.
“The property has been empty for as long as I can remember,” she said. “It was very underutilized.”
For months, the group researched, planned and eventually implemented a design for the village’s first community garden.
A rendering of the potential community garden located on Beach Street in the Village of Port Jefferson. Photo from Rebecca Kassay
According to Kassay, the garden will initially consist of 16 raised beds, with some being double-high beds for residents with different abilities. The garden will be accessible to all.
“Beach Street is a great little spot for Port Jefferson Village’s first community garden,” she said. “It is a flat piece of underutilized village parkland with plenty of sun for residents to grow some organic veggies.”
But the best part is, the Beach Street plantings are set to begin this summer, and if the pilot garden project is successful, the committee expects to expand at the Beach Street site in 2022, and in subsequent years, create a second garden site at the Highlands parkland uptown.
Kassay added the group is also looking to pilot Port Jefferson’s first composting program at Beach Street, after some research of area-appropriate methods, pending community response.
“This large effort is anticipated between 2023 and 2024,” she said.
Markson said the 16 beds will be planted with vegetables.
“Outside of the raised beds, we’re going to hopefully a whole bunch of berries, maybe grapes, and we can plant native flowers just to beautify this village,” she added. “It’s going to pull the community together.”
On March 15, Mayor Margot Garant and the village board contributed $4,000 of village beautification funds toward the project, specifically to irrigation and raised bed materials.
Committee members have already begun collecting in-kind and monetary donations from community members to meet the project’s $8,600 2021 budget and will be circulating donation material mid-April.
“No contribution is too small,” she said. “You can find a committee member for more information and/or to give a donation at the weekly Village Farmer’s Market starting May 2.”
Once established, the garden committee will raise money throughout the year with suggested-donation programming and fundraisers.
Kassay said they are looking to break ground on the project May 1, with a ribbon cutting July 10.
“I’m really looking forward to giving fellow residents the ability to grow their own produce,” Kassay said. “Whether it’s a fun family project, a way to cut down on grocery bills, a way to meet new people, part of a journey to better health … I’ve been fortunate to have access to gardens throughout my life, and now I’m grateful for the opportunity to share this with my community.”
There’s a place for people of all abilities to play soccer, and it’s right in Centereach.
TOPSoccer is a new program within Middle Country Children’s Soccer devoted solely to children with physical, mental or behavioral disabilities.
Rob Draper, a financial advisor at Draper Asset Management in Smithtown and club president of SB Athletico Soccer Club, said he wanted to provide a place where all different types of people can run, play and score goals together without judgment or fear.
“Soccer helped me experience my kids’ childhoods,” he said. “With soccer, there were times where I would go, ‘Wow. That’s great,’ and our goal is to give those moments to these parents so they can experience it, too.”
Draper teamed up with Dave Phaff, also of SB Athletico, and James Malone, president of Middle Country Children’s Soccer to make this dream a reality.
“We’re all just good-hearted people that just really enjoy working with children and watching them grow into young women and men,” Phaff said.
Officially kicking off last weekend, the program is made up primarily of skills sessions that help teach the participants the game of soccer, while at the same time providing them with an environment that is fun and pressure-free.
Phaff said the whole process took less than three months to get off the ground, and everyone was immediately on board.
Joining the team is Tara Phaff, Dave’s wife — who is also a Doctor of Physical Therapy — who helped create the best plans for each individual participant’s needs.
According to Middle Country TOPSoccer, the team encourages any child or adult who is differently-abled to get involved — and its 100% free.
With no questions asked, Draper wanted to fund the program for the families who decide to join in.
“Rob said to me, ‘I really want to start a special needs soccer program and I’ll fully fund it. I don’t care what it costs, I’ll fund it,’” Phaff added. “He has a great heart.”
While other soccer clubs do encourage inclusivity, Phaff said there aren’t too many locations where kids of different abilities can play further out east. That’s why Centereach was a great, central spot to get the ball rolling.
On Saturday, April 10, the group held its opening day at Oxhead Road Elementary School where 25 individuals, ranging in ages five to 55, headed to the field to kick, run and enjoy the sunshine.
Some of the participants have Down syndrome, some on the autism spectrum and two children were able to play soccer from their wheelchairs. One thing they all had in common was the giant smiles on their faces.
Each player, Phaff said, gets a buddy that works with them every practice. These buddies are volunteers and soccer players, themselves, who help the individual and stand beside them the whole time — and they are anticipating even more players to come join them this season.
“The whole purpose of this is to give these kids an opportunity to be accepted and feel like they are part of something,” Phaff said. “So, we won’t turn anybody down.”
TOPSoccer has their practices every Saturday at 10 a.m. at Oxhead Elementary School in Centereach. Families who are interested in joining can register online at mccsoccer.org.
The former Café Bada-Bing finally went “bada-bye.”
Steps away from the train station in Port Jefferson, construction crews began to knock down the former vacant bar on April 12.
Last known as the Bahia Bar & Discotec, the plot will soon be home to a new mixed-use site with 45 units of housing and more than 3,000 square-feet of ground floor commercial space to be called Port Jefferson Crossing.
The company behind the build, Conifer Realty, LLC, joined village officials as demolition began.
Photo by Julianne Mosher
Village Mayor Margot Garant put her hard hat on and got behind the bulldozer, to help knock down its first wall.
“This is a revitalization project that’s been going on now for many years,” she said. “We’re finally out of the planning process and into the building process.”
This is the first step toward giving Upper Port its much-needed facelift, including revitalizing the train station, building affordable and safe housing for young people and senior citizens close to the LIRR.
According to the IDA, Port Jefferson Crossing is a $24 million project that will construct 45 units of residential workforce housing in the heart of Port Jefferson.
The affordable housing component will be given out based on a lottery system, and will be located at 1609-1615 Main Street, currently the site of two vacant buildings.
“The public private partnership with the Brookhaven IDA, Suffolk County and the Village of Port Jefferson is instrumental in bringing Port Jefferson Crossing to fruition,” said Roger Pine, vice president of Development of Conifer, in a statement. “This is a long-term partnership that will bring continued revitalization to areas most in need in Long Island.”
Garant added that this project was a collective effort of several state agencies to bring life back to uptown, and Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (D) complimented the mayor for her efforts.
“Some good things are happening,” he said. “You’re making things happen here on the local level. You’re doing the things necessary to create vibrancy, to create opportunity to create a place that people will flock to here, right around this train station.”
He said that a mixed-use building like this one will make the region more attractive to young people.
Photo by Julianne Mosher
“We need to build a growing sustainable innovation economy,” he added. “You’re at the fore-front of doing that work and making it happen. And certainly, building more affordable housing in our downtown is key, not only to revitalizing and creating more vibrancy downtown, but to creating a prosperous economy.”
The land-clearing demo will take about two weeks before its ground-breaking event and the actual building.
Bea Ruberto, Brianna Florio and Mary McKeown show off the new ‘Signature Dishes of Sound Beach and Beyond’ cookbook, with proceeds going to a frontline worker tribute. Photo by Julianne Mosher
The Sound Beach Civic Association wanted to do something for local essential workers, and everyone knows that food brings people together.
Bea Ruberto, president of the civic, said early last year the group wanted to do a tribute to the frontline and essential workers at an adopted spot they take care of on New York Avenue.
Although still a concept, the plan is to plant a small tree with a memorial stone in front of it to honor all the people who risked their lives.
But due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the civic was unable to do typical fundraising to make the tribute happen. So, instead, they decided to create a cookbook, “Signature Dishes of Sound Beach and Beyond,” for donations.
“Because the civic is a not-for-profit, we are asking for a donation of $20 and then they get the book,” Ruberto said.
The cookbook, which came out officially earlier this month, is dedicated to all the people who kept everybody safe throughout the coronavirus crisis, and features a section devoted solely to the local heroes.
Ruberto and her group began reaching out to civic members and others in the Sound Beach community asking them to send in their favorite family dishes.
Photo by Julianne Mosher
“Initially, we wanted it to be just people in Sound Beach, but we weren’t getting enough recipes,” she said. “So, then we reached out beyond that, which included friends of people who live in Sound Beach, families of people who live in Sound Beach, and this is how it came together.”
She added that by the end of production — which took about four months to put together — 64 people submitted 220 recipes for the 150-page book.
Sound Beach resident Mary McKeown submitted the most recipes — 15 of them — and would reach out to Ruberto often to ask what kind of recipe she needed.
“I just love all the people we’ve met here, and just to be a part of everybody doing it all together has just been great fun,” McKeown said.
Brianna Florio, also of Sound Beach, volunteered to create the cover and drew the concept drawing for what the tribute at the adopted spot will look like when completed.
“I think she did a beautiful job,” Ruberto said.
The black-and-white cover features a local beach with a picnic basket and birds flying in the background.
The 22-year-old said she took a photo of the Long Island Sound and then used her Photoshop skills to add the details.
As of right now, more than 100 books have been sold to people throughout the whole country.
“I actually I got an email from somebody who saw this on Facebook from North Carolina,” Ruberto said. “And he wanted to gift it to his mom who used to live in Sound Beach.”
Ruberto said that the cookbook will appease all different types of palates because there is so much variety, but the classics still remain.
On page 142, there is a recipe from two local boys for one of their favorites: pea-nut butter and jelly.
Ruberto said the first batch of books has all been taken, but the civic is currently ordering more. Those who are interested in making a $20 donation to receive the “Signature Dishes of Sound Beach and Beyond” can email [email protected] or call 631-744-6952.
John T. Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson. File photo from Mather Hospital
After the New York State Department of Health updated its guidance regarding hospital visitation, John T. Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson has begun instituting limited visitation.
Beginning on Friday, April 2, visitation hours will now be from 3 p.m. until 6 p.m. every day, and patients may have up to two visitors, with just one allowed at their bedside at any given time.
With the new guidelines, inpatient visitation is only allowed in non-COVID medical and surgical units, critical care unites and adolescent psych.
According to the hospital, visitation for the adult psychiatric unit will be accommodated by instituting two visitation sessions to be determined by the behavioral health staff during the hours of 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
An adult will be allowed to accompany a patient during their visit to Mather in its outpatient/same day procedure areas and in our emergency room. The visitor will only be allowed to stay with the patient during the intake and discharge process.
The hospital said in a statement that exceptions will only be made in extenuating circumstances as determined by hospital staff.
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