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Joshua Kim

By Joshua Kim

The 16th annual Port Jefferson Health & Wellness Fest was held Saturday, April 12, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the Meadow Club, on Rte. 112 just off the 347. The event was organized by the Greater Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce and supported by 12 sponsoring institutions, including the three major hospitals in the area: Stony Brook Medicine, John T. Mather Hospital and St. Charles Hospital.

The many attendees who parked in the adjacent Port Plaza’s parking lot were directed across the street and into the venue by Suffolk County Crossing Guards in bright neon yellow raincoats. Inside the Meadow Club, the glistening crystal chandeliers, marble floors, and bright, lively atmosphere struck a sharp contrast with the cold, gloomy weather outside.

The Fest was supported by over 50 local health providers, businesses and organizations that filled over 90 tables where they could distribute brochures, merchandise and, in some cases, massages. The standard rate for a table was $250, while Chamber of Commerce partners paid $200 and nonprofits $100 – some organizations, like Hope for Cleo Animal Rescue, which brought along puppies, attended for free; “animals are a draw,” said Barbara Ransome, the director of operations at the Chamber.

Stony Brook Medicine commanded the largest presence with 11 different tables dedicated to several health topics, including obstetrics-gynecology, urology and chronic kidney disease. Dr. Soo-Jin Lim of the Stony Brook Medicine Heart Institute spoke of the opportunity that the event provided to screen people who might typically ignore their health, saying that they had referred at least one person with high blood pressure to treatment.

Mather Hospital had the next largest presence with eight tables arranged along the side of the room, also dedicated to similar health topics.

St. Charles Hospital had fewer tables, but, as in years past, they provided the refreshments for the fest. The head chef at St. Charles Hospital Mohamad Saleh, or “Chef Mo,” who typically makes sure that “the patients in the hospital are getting food they like and eating healthy food,” made healthy muffins and Açaí bowls.  “[We’ve] had a great experience with everybody–some of them are actually patients in the hospital,” said Chef Mo.

The event also was not limited to only organizations or businesses traditionally associated with health and wellness: everyone from the Port Jeff Free Library to Port Jeff Bowl to, Moloney Family Funeral Homes had a table set up, seeing the event as an opportunity to “put their name and face out there.” However, many of these groups used the event to highlight health-related services they offered that were less well-publicized, such as the Port Jeff Free Library’s “huge range of programs, from nutrition facts to stroke awareness, to a workshop on knee and shoulder pain.”

People from all over Suffolk, and even Nassau County, attended the fest. Some had seen the promotions in the paper or on Facebook; some had “just been passing by” on the road and decided to pop in and still others had attended the fest other years and were coming back.

Two friends, Kim and Marianna, had heard about the event on Instagram and came from Nassau County and Babylon to “understand and better [their] own health” as they neared retirement age. “It’s great to see that they have so many supporters, people who are willing to come out on a Saturday to help other people understand the importance of taking care of yourself,” said Kim. “It’s much bigger than I had expected.”

“We really feel that the Village of Port Jefferson has become a mecca for health and wellness services,” said Ransome. “And we do this event – that’s how we support it.”

She concluded, “The turnout has been exceptional. The weather wasn’t so great, but I think we did really, really well.”

James Cress Florist owners Linda and George Karatzas. Photo courtesy of Nick Karatzas

By Joshua Kim

Go down Main Street in Smithtown and you might be able to spot it tucked away in a row of stores just off Hauppauge Road: James Cress Florist. Founded in 1903 in Manhattan, the flower store expanded to Smithtown around 1961 and has been a fixture of the community ever since.

James Cress Florist owner George Karatzas. Photo from Nick Karatzas

George Karatzas started selling flowers when he went to high school here on the North Shore, and he’s been selling flowers through various flower shops ever since. Most recently, he had been running Commack Florist for the past 20 years with his wife Linda. Then, in 2021, at almost 60 years old, they received a deal that caught their eye.

In December 2021, James Cress was owned by Family Flowers, a large flower company operating out of Alpharetta, Georgia, and, according to the Karatzas family, in decline, from both a profit and a customer trust perspective. Family Flowers, which was acquainted with the Karatzas family, reached out and offered to sell the two James Cress locations in Smithtown and Port Jefferson Station to the Karatzas. “[We] wanted to at least allow the brand to survive,” said Nick Karatzas.

Once they bought the store, their children, Stefan, Dawn and Nick, also helped out at the store, with Stefan and Nick helping grow the business online and Dawn running the wedding section of the business. They helped out despite having full-time jobs, with Stefan as a marine technician, Dawn as a teacher in Rockville Center and Nick as a credit underwriter.

They set to work revitalizing the store with diligence, never getting to celebrate holidays because holidays are the busy seasons for flower shops. But it paid off – these days, they process around 300 orders a day, and George can take over 100 calls a day from customers. Sales are up over seven times from what they were this time last year. Also, the James Cress building in Smithtown is a few doors down from its original location, with a wedding location behind to boot. And the business itself looks a little different too. When the Karatzas took over the business, around half of the James Cress customers were not on Long Island; now, the number is closer to 90% Moreover, James Cress now boasts over 200,000 registered people on its website.

But at the core of their business remains customer service: “I know that this order might be a little quirky, but I’m paying attention to it. I’ll make sure it gets delivered on time exactly how you want,” said Nick to describe the mindset of his father George. “Like he really cares about the customer at the end of the day and doing the right thing. And customers notice that.”

“The product that we actually offer is a way to celebrate and connect with people in a way that words can’t say.”

Visit James Cress’ website  to learn more or place an order.

Parker Hutchinson. Photo courtesy the Hutchinson family

By Joshua Kim

If you want to catch a glimpse of Parker Hutchinson’s fresh, cleanly faded, cut-in-Massapequa hair, you’ll have to act fast. On  St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, with about 12 others, 11-year-old Parker is going to shave off his hair in the auditorium of Port Jefferson High School. 

Parker Hutchinson with his parents

The shaving is part of a fundraising event for St. Baldrick’s Foundation, which was brought to Port Jefferson School District by childhood cancer survivor and Port Jefferson High School senior Kyle Martin. Melissa Martin, Kyle’s mother as well as Parker’s kindergarten teacher, described the foundation as “an organization that raises money to help fund children’s cancer research. They try to help children in the area where the money is raised.” 

Kyle, who plans to attend SUNY Geneseo in the fall, hopes to leave Port Jeff’s St. Baldrick’s as his legacy — a way to make a difference while teaching others along the way to stay positive and keep fighting.

People can participate at St. Baldrick’s events in two ways —as shavees and as fundraisers. At the time of writing, in addition to planning to shave his head, Parker has also raised over $2,300 for the foundation, meeting his original goal of $250 more than nine times over. 

He said he’d gotten donations from over 50 people, including seven people who donated over a hundred dollars, through posting on social media and directly asking the people around him, like coaches, friends and family, to help the cause. Paige Hutchinson, Parker’s mom, said that “everyone sees it’s for a good cause, so people have been so generous and willing to donate.”

For the past two years, Port Jefferson Middle School had shown its students a video about St. Baldrick’s encouraging them to join in. This year, Parker, who had fundraised for his sports teams and school before, was convinced; in particular, he remembered the video telling him that every two minutes, a child is diagnosed with cancer. He registered for the event as soon as he could. 

The original $250 goal was met in less than a day. Two weeks in, he hit $1,000, texting his mom, “We’re over!” Then, just a few days later, he hit $2,000. The family is hoping to “punch out another thousand” before March 17. Parker only said he was “happy because everyone’s been so supportive” when he saw how the money was coming in. His mom put it a bit more strongly: “He was psyched!” 

But while the support he’s received is exciting, he still says that the event is really about “helping kids who are going through bad stuff to have hope.” 

“If there are kids who don’t even have cancer who shave their heads, [it] can show them they’re not alone and that it’s not embarrassing,” he said.

When the day comes, he’ll walk over with his classmates during their lunch period to the Port Jefferson High School auditorium before noon, where he expects there to be around 500 people: middle and high school students, teachers, parents and community members. Then, he and the 12 other participants will go on stage to have the deed done by local barbers. As for what he’ll do after, Parker said that he’ll “maybe go downtown once the day’s over.” Then, of course, he’ll spend the next few months around school with a hairless head.

“We didn’t tell him to do anything. We didn’t ask him to do anything —it was all his idea. So that’s amazing. And then on the flip-side, it’s been nice to see the support he’s gotten from the folks who are willing to donate,” said his mother.

“The support from the local community has been overwhelming,” added her husband, Pete.