Tags Posts tagged with "Events"

Events

Photo by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay
By Carolyn Sackstein

Between Friday, Oct. 13, and Sunday, Oct. 15, visitors to the North Shore were asked if the six straight weekends of rain had prompted any alterations to their recreation plans or other impact on their lives.

Last Saturday, Oct. 14, was so rainy that outdoor interviews were conducted under an awning, a beachside gazebo and two people followed into the shelter of the Port Jefferson Library. 

Most respondents were sanguine about the recent foul weather, taking the bad with the good.

Judy Spina, Pennsylvania

Spina was here house-sitting for her sister. When asked if she had altered her activities due to the rain, she cheerfully said, “No, I have not. I drove here in the rain two Fridays ago. I just continue to do what I do.”

 

 

Joseph Lubrano, Shirley

Lubrano came to Port Jeff Sunday on his motorcycle. “We’re bikers, so yes, we don’t really go out in the rain,” he said. “Any time you have a nice day, like a weekend day — like a Sunday that’s beautiful — we go out. Normally, we would have gone upstate many times, but we don’t do it anymore. The weather has been terrible upstate, too.”

Bruce Folz, Coastal Steward Long Island

Folz, director of the Shellfish Restoration Program for the Coastal Steward Adopt a Beach Program, was manning registration for the beach cleanup that was scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 14. He said rain had reduced the number of participants and, because they were short staffed, Folz could not drive along the shore picking up large debris with his truck. 

“This time of year, we usually have between 20 to 50 people, depending on which service organizations [volunteer] — from the schools to people looking for community service credits. Churches do it also,” he said. “Normally, we have a bigger turnout than this.”

Mary Leming, Stony Brook

On Saturday afternoon, people ran from their cars into the Port Jefferson Free Library. Leming, who teaches a weekly citizenship class, agreed to relate her experiences with this season’s rain. 

“Yes, I have altered my routine because of the many straight days of rain,” she said. “I teach a class at the Port Jeff Library. I like to park by the harbor and walk up to the library.”

But, she added, “With this rain, I don’t get my walk in. I park in the [library] lot. After class, I go straight home and make a hot cup of tea. I have been waiting a month to get my mailbox repaired. The handyman can’t come with all this rain. That’s OK, the garden needs rain.”

Marilyn Haftel, Philadelphia 

Haftel was in town celebrating a confirmation. She said, “We know we need the rain, but we are very happy to see the sun today. We are here visiting, and we can walk around, visit our friends and enjoy this lovely town.” When asked if she had to cancel any activities this summer, she replied, “Where we live, yes — nothing outside. Nothing big, fortunately.”

Sharon Barnes, residence unidentified

Barnes teaches knitting and crochet arts at the library on Saturday afternoons. She said, “Over the last 12 to 15 years, I have a very good group of women.” We asked how the rain had impacted this class besides raining on supplies and materials being carried into the course. Barnes replied, “It has impacted how I dress. I don’t want to be drenched, yet when I put on too much, I get too hot. It’s depressing — it’s been 40 days and 40 nights. I have one student who does not come out when it rains. We are all looking forward to seeing her again, but it is raining and she can’t do it.”

From left, Danny Amron of Florida, Johanna Rennert of Massachusetts, Alexa Whitman of New Jersey, Katie Metis of Queens and Alice Kilkelly of New Jersey

Syracuse University Sailing Team

Also on Saturday morning, the Syracuse University club sailing team was huddled under a gazebo next to the Port Jefferson Yacht Club, waiting for the wind to increase. Johanna Rennert, whose home is in Massachusetts, said, “We will sail in the rain.”

However, Danny Amron, who’s from Florida, explained, “The wind is only at 3 miles an hour, and that is just not enough to move the Js,” — meaning the model of boat they use — “They’ll just bob in the water.” 

When asked if any sailing competitions had been canceled due to the recent storms, Alexa Whitman, from New Jersey, smiled and said excitedly, “Last weekend, there was a whole squall going through. I was sailing out of Larchmont, New York. It was the Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta. There was absolutely no wind at the beginning of the day. It was downpouring the entire time but, at the end, a cold storm went through. It clocked out at 41 knots. It was crazy, but we still went out in it. It was miserable, but we did our best. There were boats that almost flipped. The boats we were in are not supposed to flip. We were in a J/99. I watched one boat whose mast almost touched the water. They had to throw down their spinnaker, they had to dump the whole thing. It was bad.”

Logo from Facebook

The Rocky Point Sound Beach Chamber of Commerce only established its current form less than a month ago, but in that short time it’s already full steam ahead on a number of ambitious projects.

“It’s gangbusters, and it’s a challenge, but we wanted to get something on the map right away,” said John Tochterman, chamber treasurer and the branch and financial services manager for the Teachers Federal Credit Union in Rocky Point.

The chamber hosted its first meeting in August, but already it is planning several events including multiple festivals, expos and golf tournaments. Gary Pollakusky, the president of the new chamber and managing partner of Media Barrel LLC in Rocky Point, said the hamlets of Rocky Point and Sound Beach need a group to champion not only those on the highly trafficked Route 25A, but the businesses on the roads leading to the North Shore.

“The first piece of what we do is bring business into the area and inspire our merchants to do things that are a bit out of the box,” Pollakusky said. “We have to get customers to our different business districts — to our Sound Beach business district and our Route 25A business district.”

The chamber started to come together in January, when Marie Stewart, the owner of Brooklyn Bagels & Café in Rocky Point began gathering local business owners, slowly building the chamber until it formed a new board in March. In June, the chamber incorporated and attained 501(c)(6) chamber status.

In October 2017, the North Brookhaven Chamber of Commerce, which covered businesses from Port Jefferson Station to Wading River, dissolved because the time commitment proved too much for volunteers in such a large coverage area. It was then decided the chamber would split up to take on original shapes, which focused on businesses in just a handful of hamlets.

Pollakusky said the North Brookhaven chamber collapsed because it simply couldn’t reach every nook and cranny of businesses in its coverage area. Now more people are stepping up in local communities to fill the void left behind.

Members of the Port Jefferson area created the Port Jefferson/Terryville Chamber of Commerce, people in the Mount Sinai area established the Mount Sinai-Miller Place Chamber Alliance, and the community in the Shoreham area created Wading River Shoreham Chamber of Commerce.

Jeff Davis, owner of the Rocky Point Funeral Home was part of the North Brookhaven Chamber before it dissolved, and he said the new chamber focusing on the local businesses is heading in the right direction.

“They have all the right ideas — I’m hoping they can pull it off,” Davis said. “We’ve talked about [the fall festival] for years. It takes people who want to get involved to do it.”

Already boasting approximately 40 members, according to Pollakusky, chamber leaders are still looking for new people to fill positions on the board. They are asking local business people to fill positions to help welcome owners to the neighborhood, hold ribbon cuttings, drive membership, find sponsorships and plan events, among others.

“The more the merrier,” said Stewart, who now serves as chamber vice president.

Plans are set for the Fall Festival in the Rocky Point business district Oct. 27. The event will include a children’s costume parade, hayrides, local vendors and demonstrations from the Rocky Point Fire District. After hours, the event will also include a late-night adult-only session including live music, a beer garden and costume contest.

Events are being planned into next year. The chamber hopes to establish a spring festival to be set in Sound Beach next year, along with a senior expo and golf tournament fundraiser. Pollakusky said they were still ironing out the full details for those events.

“There’s all kinds of businesses that need our support, it could be our lawyers, our doctors, our nonprofits, it could be our home-based businesses, our brick and mortar craft merchants, our restaurants, there are many categories of business that need our help,” Pollakusky said. “To look at every category and see how we can support them that is the difference maker in this chamber.”

The chamber is looking for more volunteers and vendors for its upcoming Fall Festival. Contact the chamber through its website, www.rpsbchamber.org.

 

Greenlawn firefighters proudly showcased their dedication to service and community to kickoff the Labor Day holiday weekend.

Greenlawn Fire Department hosted its annual parade Thursday night, Aug. 30, as bagpipers, marching bands, historic trucks and hundreds of volunteer firemen marched their way down Broadway. The parade marks the start of the Greenlawn Firemen’s Fair —which claims to be the state’s oldest fair — running from Aug. 30 through Labor Day. The fairgrounds are closed Sept. 2.

A scene from this month’s annual Smithtown Festival Day, where residents enjoyed the sunshine and perused the various activities across Main Street, which was shut down to make room for the event. Photo by Greg Catalano

On your mark, get set — no.

Smithtown officials are taking another look at the way the town approves festivals, parades and similar events that close major roadways in different parts of the town. Before Tuesday’s special Smithtown Town Board meeting, Supervisor Pat Vecchio (R) and Town Clerk Vincent Puleo discussed complaints both of their offices have received after recent events closed portions of Smithtown, citing negative effects on business and residential life.

“It discombobulates people,” Vecchio said, citing one recent grievance to his office about a town event putting a damper on business. “This is a beautiful town, but this is not the first complaint we have received. I think we need to revisit the process.”

St. James resident Scott Flugman prompted the discussion via a letter he penned to Vecchio’s office, citing traffic issues barring his ability to get around town during an outdoor race event in his town on May 31. He said it took him nearly an hour to drive his son home from a friend’s house, who lives roughly 10 minutes away.

“This is a dangerous and grave inconvenience and should not be allowed to happen again,” the letter said. “We could not pick up our children, we were late to their sports and other activities and we were put at risk for a potentially serious traffic accident. Please have more consideration for the impact on the community when planning these races in the future.”

Currently, the town lists a parade, a run or a similar event in the correspondence section of its Town Board meeting agenda. The events are read aloud at two consecutive meetings, and the public can weigh in. But Vecchio said that process only targets residents who actually tune in to each agenda item at any given meeting.

“We have two readings. But there is no time in between for anyone to say, ‘Wait a minute,’” Vecchio said.

Puleo echoed the supervisor’s sentiments on the limited avenue for residents to become aware of a given event being approved.

“If they’re not looking at the meeting, they’re not going to know there is an event,” Puleo said. “My office gets complaints all the time. If you’re the affected person, and that’s not your thing to look at what’s going on in town, you could be blindsided.”

In the last six Town Board meetings, there have been first or second readings for 12 separate events labeled as parades, runs, walks or festivals, according to agendas from those respective meetings.

Puleo said it was suggested that his office help install signs throughout town to alert business owners and residents of upcoming events, but he said it would be difficult to figure out where to put a sign and when.

A potential solution, Puleo said, could be to more frequently utilize areas of the town typically closed on the days these events often fall, like Saturdays and Sundays. The clerk recommended to the Town Board that future events be moved to spots like the Hauppauge Industrial Park, or the Kings Park Psychiatric Center.

But Tony Tanzi, president of the Kings Park Chamber of Commerce, said he disagreed with such a strategy, as various events are planned with the intent to bring more people to Smithtown’s downtown areas. He acknowledged that events in his neck of the woods, like Kings Park Day, might have a negative impact on business temporarily, but the purpose was greater than that day’s cash flow.

“I can see the point with some people that sometimes events can be disruptive. As a business owner, it really does have a big impact on sales,” Tanzi said. “But if the goal is to entice people to visit your downtown, I don’t see how [relocating] helps.”

As a possible solution, Vecchio said the town might want to consider limiting the kinds of events it approves to allow solely Smithtown-based organizations or town residents as hosts. He argued there would be a lesser impact if the events excluded non-residents.

“The squeaky wheel is getting the grease,” Puleo said at the meeting. “Whether it’s Smithtown or not, the impact on the residents is still the same.”