Dear Readers,

Curious to find out how the North Shore community spent the Fourth of July, TBR News Media’s star reporter, Kevin Redding, took to the streets of Port Jefferson to interview local residents before the holiday. Here are some of their responses:

Jackie and Chris Buzaid, Lake Grove

Jackie: We usually go to my grandma’s in the Jersey Shore and watch fireworks and have a big cookout, stuff like that. We go to the beach, have barbecues, do sparklers.

Chris: I just like spending time with my extended family and seeing them, because we don’t usually see them that much over the years and it’s always nice seeing them and spending time together in the summer.

Devon Buckley, Poquott:  All of my friends … around six or seven of us … are gonna go on my family’s sailboat and go out to Pirate’s Cove, the first cove right at the mouth of the entrance of Port, on the night of 4th of July to see some fireworks. It’s usually a leisurely day, [but] we kind of do that every year. We just hang out, we’ll have a grill onboard, grill some food, go swimming. [Fourth of July] has always been a family and friends ordeal every year.

Pat Morelli, Setauket: I’m actually going up to New Hampshire for my brother’s wedding. It’s not on the 4th of July, but it’s going to be a long weekend type of thing with the whole family. Usually the family that’s here on the Island, we try to get together every 4th of July. It’s a nice, summer holiday where we get to remember how great this country is and hang out with each other.

Avery Looney and Michael Famiano, Port Jefferson Station:

Avery: We’re going to a pool party.

Michael: There’s gonna be barbecue, a fire pit, some fireworks. It’s just partying, [red, white, and blue] themed.

Jenna and Jeannette Cleary, Coram

Jeannette: Well, on the 2nd, we have a big family reunion. And then on 4th of July, we have Grandma’s birthday party first and then to my sister, who’s been having an annual party at her house in Manorville forever. We’ll be busy. My brother’s here this weekend from Hawaii and he plays games and is like the event coordinator. He’s bringing fireworks from out of state, there’s a pool. We split the time between my mother-in-law’s birthday and that. We do fireworks, they play horseshoes and volleyball. Then my brother makes up these games. Not a bad weekend

Jenna: Yeah, like egg tosses and stuff like that. You get covered in eggs. I got it last year..

Bill Evans and Kristine O’Brien, Holbrook: We live in Holbrook but we’re doing a little getaway for two days, staying at Danfords and hanging out in town. We’re just gonna walk around, enjoy the atmosphere, have dinner. For us at home, we show patriotism, but here, we’re really just looking to get away and have a 24-48 hours escaping from our four girls, ages 11 to 18, and throughout the weekend we’ll celebrate

.John and Nicole Goncharuk, Selden

Nicole: We’re just taking a walk out here today with the family, and then we’re gonna barbecue at the house for 4th of July.

John: Just barbecue stuff at the house. Not so much, since we have the kids now, nothing too big or extravagant. It’s low-key. We’re in Selden, so we’re way up high and we can see the fireworks at Bald Hill. But we might venture down here [to Port Jefferson] and we have pamphlets that show where fireworks are going on so we might check that out. There’s plenty to see and plenty to do [on Long Island]. We used to get dressed up nice, go out to dinner and stuff like that but now our priorities are different.

All photos by Kevin Redding