Scenes from the Huntington Music Fest. Photos by Toni-Elena Gallo and the Huntington Lighthouse Preservation Society
Scenes from the Huntington Music Fest. Photos by Toni-Elena Gallo and the Huntington Lighthouse Preservation Society
Scenes from the Huntington Music Fest. Photos by Toni-Elena Gallo and the Huntington Lighthouse Preservation Society
Scenes from the Huntington Music Fest. Photos by Toni-Elena Gallo and the Huntington Lighthouse Preservation Society
Scenes from the Huntington Music Fest. Photos by Toni-Elena Gallo and the Huntington Lighthouse Preservation Society
Scenes from the Huntington Music Fest. Photos by Toni-Elena Gallo and the Huntington Lighthouse Preservation Society
Scenes from the Huntington Music Fest. Photos by Toni-Elena Gallo and the Huntington Lighthouse Preservation Society
Scenes from the Huntington Music Fest. Photos by Toni-Elena Gallo and the Huntington Lighthouse Preservation Society
By Toni-Elena Gallo
Huntington Lighthouse Preservation Society held its 15th annual Music Fest on Saturday, Aug. 31. The event takes place each year between Huntington Bay and Lloyd Harbor and brings together lovers of the sea and lovers of rock ’n’ roll.
In 1985 the lighthouse was scheduled for demolition, but the nonprofit HLPS took it over and has worked to preserve and restore it ever since.
A variety of bands, ranging in genre from reggae to classic rock, played from 11 a.m. to dusk, at the top of Huntington Lighthouse, a historical landmark that has existed in its current incarnation since 1912, and housed the families of keepers from the 19th- to the early 20th century.
The unique design of this festival — it is only accessible by taking a boat for about a 10-minute ride out of Huntington Harbor — adds to the excitement it generates among boaters.
“We’ve got 1,500-plus boats here from Connecticut, New Jersey, Westchester, Rhode Island. They come from all over the place,” said Pam Setchell, president of the preservation society. “There is no music fest, anywhere in the world, that is performed on top of a working lighthouse. That’s the ace in the hole. As long as my roof is in good shape, we’re good,” she said with a laugh.
The Next Level, one of the festival’s acts, was thrilled to be back performing for the third time.
“It is awesome. We love playing here,” said Althea, the group’s lead singer.
And, to top off the day of festivities, lights illuminate the small lighthouse as dusk approaches, creating a colorful spectacle.
The festival was free to attend, and all proceeds from the 50/50 raffle went toward lighthouse restoration.
Huntington Lighthouse Preservation Society receives a $145,000 grant that helps the organization reach the $1 million needed to complete foundation repairs. Photo from Pamela Setchell
The future of a historic lighthouse in Huntington Bay is looking bright.
The 105-year-old Huntington Lighthouse will undergo much-needed repairs this fall thanks to preservation efforts by members of the nonprofit Huntington Lighthouse Preservation Society, which in August secured a $145,000 matching grant from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation.
Kathryn Curran, executive director of the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation, when announcing the grant recipient, highlighted the lighthouse’s “vital role as a cultural entity, enhancing education and preserving heritage in the community.”
The Gardiner grant, which the preservation society applied for in July 2016, will be used to complete what members are calling phase one of restoration efforts to the lighthouse’s exterior foundation.
It will also allow the lighthouse to reopen for tours and educational groups again after two years of dormancy, as well as mark the return of the Lighthouse Music Fest.
Steel sheeting has been placed around the entire base of the structure to ensure more stability for the next 100 years against rough weather conditions. A brand new landing platform will be installed to replace a deteriorating one.
Huntington Lighthouse Preservation Society receives a $145,000 grant that helps the organization reach the $1 million needed to complete foundation repairs. Photo from Pamela Setchell
Pamela Setchell, president of the Huntington Lighthouse Preservation Society, said she believes it was her passion for the historic landmark that clinched the highly-competitive grant during the interview process.
“For me, it’s just a dream,” said Setchell, a lifelong Huntington resident who has been exploring the lighthouse since she was young. “Just knowing she is going to be strong for another 100 years and hopefully go on to tell its story to everybody and to children and continue on … it means the world.”
She said without these restoration efforts, the lighthouse would become unstable and rapidly deteriorate, undoing the last 30 years of work the society has done to upkeep its interior. Setchell joined the society upon its formation in 1985 when threats of demolition loomed over the structure.
“We took it over in a deplorable state, put her back together and now she’s actually one of the poster children for offshore lighthouse restoration in the country,” Setchell said.
She pointed to the offshore lighthouse as unique among others on Long Island as it’s one of the few, due to its location, that allows the public to fully experience it. Many other lighthouses on the island are off-limits to visitors due to treacherous waters, she said.
Bernadette Castro, a longtime Huntington resident and former commissioner of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, echoed Setchell’s admiration for the lighthouse.
“For 50 years, I have looked out my dining room window and sat on my back terrace and appreciated that magnificent little structure,” Castro said of the lighthouse. “It is part of the landscape of those of us who live nearby.”
The recently acquired $145,000 grant, in addition to the nonprofit’s previously-raised $740,000 to secure a $250,000 New York state matching grant, as well as fundraising efforts among Huntington Bay residents, closes the gap on the $1 million foundation repair.
