Theilen family launches GoFundMe campaign to cover medical costs from Evelyn’s battle with neurofibromatosis
The Theilen family of Smithtown. Photo from Theilen family.
By Kevin Redding
It was a parental nightmare. Immediately following the birth of their twins in 2016, Allon and Lauren Theilen of Smithtown were told by doctors that their daughter’s leg was broken and it had no chance of healing. An hour later, they learned that amputation would be in little Evelyn’s future.
“It was devastating,” Allon Theilen said.
His wife, Lauren, who experienced no difficulties during pregnancy, said it was the hardest thing in the world to hear.
Through testing and meetings with multiple orthopedists, the couple found out Evelyn suffers from a condition called pseudoarthrosis of the tibia, which is caused by a rare genetic, cancer-related disease known as neurofibromatosis Type 1, or NF1, which occurs in one of every 3,000 to 4,000 people worldwide, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Evelyn’s bone fragility was among NF1’s rarest symptoms. The disease has been aggressive, eating away at her leg bone. So far, Evelyn has had a broken tibia, a broken fibula and her legs are no longer equal in length.
Evelyn Theilen, of Smithtown, is held by her mother, Lauren Theilen. Photo from Theilen family.
The Theilens have sought treatment options that would allow their daughter to keep her leg, setting them on a journey across the state, and then the country.
“Most doctors we met would offer a surgery but with a very bleak outlook,” her father said. “Every time you do the surgery, you lose more leg bone. Most failed surgeries meant amputation.”
Lauren Theilen said it was sometimes difficult to even find somebody who was aware of their daughter’s medical condition at all.
Extensive research led them to the Paley Institute in West Palm Beach, Florida, a limb-saving and deformity-correction practice started by Dr. Dror Paley, whom Allon Theilen calls “the miracle man.” After several trips from New York to Florida and meeting withPaley, a challenging surgery that involves a bone graft taken from both sides of her hips and a hollowing of her two leg bones in an attempt to fuse the leg was scheduled.
“Sitting in a waiting room full of parents in the same position spoke volumes to us,” Evelyn’s mother said. “I’m hopeful now, but also terrified.”
On Feb. 8, Evelyn, now a 14-month-old described by her parents as “feisty, happy, playful and out-of-this-world intelligent,” underwent the surgery. The final results won’t be known for another six weeks. The Theilens said the best outcome would be that her bone fully mends and she’ll need to wear a brace until she’s about age 18 to help stretch her damaged leg to equal length with the other. Alternatively, the bone won’t heal, the graft and tibia won’t fuse, her ankle becomes deformed and other abnormalities may occur.
“I think this is the most trying year we’ll ever have to go through,” Lauren Theilen said. “People always say, ‘Look at you guys. You’re so strong.’ To me, it kind of feels like we’re just going day-by-day, doing what we have to do. There are days when he falls apart and I have to pick up, and vice-versa. We kind of take turns being strong and being there for each other.”
The Theilen twins of Smithtown pretend to drive. Photo from Theilen family.
Allon Theilen set up a GoFundMe campaign Feb. 3, asking for a total $25,000 to help cover some of Evelyn’s medical costs. The family hasexhausted their life savings on “medical expenses, flights and hotels,” and his wife has been forced to put her job on hold. Even after health care insurance, the surgery costs about $10,000.
In 18 days, the page has raised $18,906 from family, friends and generous strangers.
“That really blew me away,” said Allon’s sister, Andrea Morris, a Huntington resident. “I was overwhelmed by how many people came together for them.”
Evelyn’s father said despite what happens, he and his wife will never give up.
“We’ve dealt with a lot and keep our feet planted to the ground,” he said. “It sounds nonhumbling to say we’re very strong but that’s what everyone tells us, so we kind of have to believe them.”
The Theilen family’s GoFundMe page can be found at www.gofundme.com/evelyn039s-battle-with-nf1.
There’s renewed hope among Smithtown town officials that they might be able to pave a parking lot to bring Kings Park downstreet one step closer to paradise — or at least revitalization.
Smithtown Supervisor Ed Wehrheim (R) asked his town council members to consider moving forward with getting a real estate appraisal of two vacant lots off Pulaski Road in Kings Park for future use as municipal parking at the Feb. 20 work session. The issue will go before the town board Feb. 22, at 7p.m. for approval.
“[The town attorney] believes that things may have changed,” Wehrheim said. “This might be a good opportunity to look at it.”
The two adjacent wooded lots measure approximately 12,800 square feet, according to town spokeswoman Nicole Garguilo, and are located south of Park Bake Shop off the intersection of Pulaski Road and Main Street.
This is the second appraisal the town will solicit of the properties owned by Matthew Lupoli, as Smithtown officials previously considered purchasing the land in 2013-14.
A petition started by Park Bake Shop owners, Lucy and Gabe Shtanko, in 2013 received more than 600 signatures from Kings Park residents asking town officials to purchase the lot for municipal parking. Wehrheim said a 2014 appraisal determined its fair market price at $230,000, but Lupoli wasn’t interested in selling at that time.
There is a Smithtown Town municipal parking lot across the street from the Kings Park Fire Department on Main Street, next to the Kings Park branch of the public library. But truth be told, Kings Park could possibly use a little more.
The western portion of Main Street — dubbed “Restaurant Row” — is the one area that could possibly use more municipal parking, according to the results of a 2018 market analysis study of downtown Kings Park presented by Larisa Ortiz, urban planner and principal of Larisa Ortiz Associates, to Smithtown Town Board Jan. 25.
“The municipal lots are inconvenient for restaurants,” reads the 62-page report.
The Restaurant Row area, which includes several eateries such as Cafe Red and Relish, averages 4.7 parking spots per 1,000 square-feet of retail space. This is less than the two other areas of Main Street, known as the “civic heart,” near the Kings Park library and Long Island Rail Road station; and “car-centric retail,” which is centered around Tanzi Plaza and the Kings Park Plaza shopping center.
Ortiz’s other suggestions for improving the current parking situation in the downtown area include restriping several existing lots — such as Relish’s — to accommodate more spaces and increase their efficiency.
“When we all ran, we promised to help the downtown,” said Councilwoman Lynne Nowick (R). “We need to work on it.”
John Daly racing down the slope. Photo from Jonn Daly
Four years ago, Smithtown resident James Daly took his son John aside. The younger Daly had been in position to realize a long-held dream, only to see that dream slip away, as if it, and his sled, had slipped into a nightmare on Russian ice.
Competing in his second Olympics in the fast-paced sport of skeleton racing, John Daly was in fourth place in the Sochi Winter Olympics going into the final run of a four-heat race when his sled popped out of the grooves at the top of the mountain. That slip cost him time he could not afford to lose, sending him down to 15th place, and after the race, into retirement.
John Daly is a professional skeleton racer. Photo from Jonn Daly
Daly’s father grabbed him and said, “What happens to you today will make you the man that you’ll be tomorrow,” the son recalled.
At the moment, Daly barely registered the words, as the agony of defeat was so keen that he walked away from a sport that had helped define his life over the last 13 years.
His retirement, however, only lasted two. Daly wanted to rewrite his Olympic script.
The Smithtown native recently learned that he would represent the United States for a third time at the Winter Olympics, completing a comeback that required him to make marathon nine-hour drives from Virginia, where he’d gotten a job as a sales representative at medical technology company Smith & Nephew, to Lake Placid, where he returned to familiar stomping grounds.
A race official for bobsled and skeleton, the elder Daly continued to trek to the top of snowy and wind-whipped mountains, recognizing in the back of his mind that the middle of his three children might one day return to a sport where competitors sprint with a hand on their sled for five seconds and then dive headfirst onto a brakeless vehicle that can reach speeds in excess of 80 miles per hour.
When he learned his son made the Olympic team that will compete in Pyeongchang, South Korea next month, Daly couldn’t contain his enthusiasm.
“I’ve been telling everybody,” the retired EMS worker for the FDNY said with a laugh, even including random people he meets at the gym.
“When people watch the Olympic games on TV, they see a person from a town they never heard of,” James Daly said. “Now, all of a sudden, they see Smithtown. It’s great.”
The racing Daly, who is now 32, had a long road back to reclaim a spot on the American team. For starters, he had to go back to North America Cup races, the junior circuit of racing.
“Daly never really lost it. It was quite amazing to see.”
— Tuffy Latour
Daly “never really lost it,” said Tuffy Latour, the head coach of the USA skeleton team. “It was quite amazing to see. We were quite pleased.”
In January of last year, Daly earned a gold medal at Salt Lake City and followed that up with a gold and silver at Lake Placid.
Not only was his proud father there to celebrate John’s return, James also put the hardware around his neck.
“He’s been there from the time I went down the mountain the first time,” John said. “He’s always been there and for him to be there again, to put the medal on me for my first race back, it felt right.”
The pair joked while celebrating the first of several America’s Cup medals that the success felt familiar, like Daly was never gone.
At this point, Daly said he feels that the track in South Korea where he will square off against veteran sliders, including his longtime friend and teammate Matt Antoine, plays to his strengths. Latour said the American team is in a similar position preparing for South Korea as it was going into Sochi.
“We had a test of it last year in the World Cup,” the coach said. “The results were similar to what we had [in 2014].”
Latour said it sometimes helps to walk away for a few years and come back refreshed. He highlighted Daly’s experience as an asset in preparation for the 2018 games.
“He has nothing to lose,” said Latour, who appreciates how Daly’s comedic side helps steady his teammates during competition. He said Daly has the same energy he had before he left the race. “It’s great to have him around.”
John Daly, with father James, has had a successful season leading up to the Olympics in North Korea, grabbing gold in Lake Placid last year. Photo from John Daly
Daly said he’s proud to represent the United States. After he retired, he went to the gym, where he’d see people wearing sweatshirts emblazoned with the names of the colleges they’d attended. His sweatshirts read “USA.”
“That USA represents every college,” said Daly. “It’s a good feeling to wear it.”
At the South Korea games, Daly will be without teammate and friend Steve Holcomb, who died last year at 37. Holcomb’s story, including a recovery from an eye disease that made him nearly blind to a gold medal-winning driver of the celebrated Night Train sled, inspired people around the world, as well as his teammates.
As with his fellow bobsled and skeleton racers, Daly will be flying down the mountain in a suit that has Holcomb’s initials on it.
Daly will spend a next few weeks preparing for one more chance in the Olympics.
During the training to get back, Daly said his body and his mind demanded to know why he’s going through this work again.
He told himself: “I’m here to finish my career off the way I’d like.”
Bennarda Daly, who will attend the Olympics with her husband, said the South Korea Olympics will give her son something he didn’t get from the games in Russia.
“In South Korea,” she said, “he will finally get closure.”
He was so close and then, poof, everything he’d worked for and imagined for 13 years disappeared in an instant.
John Daly, a Smithtown native who hates the cold, was competing in his second winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and was in fourth place, in the hunt for a medal after three of the four legs of his skeleton race.
In skeleton, athletes sprint at top speed hunched over with their hands on the sleds for five seconds, then dive headfirst on the sleds, navigating around the curved icy track by shifting their weight while traveling at speeds of more than 80 miles per hour.
And then, in the fourth race, at the top, where he needed to generate the kind of speed that would allow him to race against his rivals and the clock, Daly’s sled popped out of the grooves in the ice, slowing him down and sending him back to 15th place.
After such a crushing defeat, Daly decided to move on with his life, retiring from a sport where he’d won numerous other medals and where he was one of the country’s best sliders.
For two years, he stayed retired, taking a job in Virginia at medical technology company Smith & Nephew.
Then, a funny thing happened in retirement. Daly missed the sport. He didn’t have the same passion for other parts of his life, the bitter cold from mountains around the world notwithstanding, that he felt when he was racing.
He spoke to numerous people about what he might do.
People his age, he’s 32, could understand the hesitation about throwing himself back into a sport that required physical and mental commitment. To get back into prime condition, Daly would need to make nine hour drives from Virginia, where he was living, up to Lake Placid, a familiar training ground and site of the 1980 Miracle on Ice.
People older than he is, however, couldn’t understand the agony of the decision.
“Why wouldn’t you go back?” they asked. When you’re older, they argued, “Do you want to look back and say, ‘I might have gotten a little further ahead at work,’ or do you want to go back for one more Olympic games?”
Unlike other competitions, the Winter Olympics only occur once every four years. And, unlike the World Cup competitions, a global TV audience seems to pause to watch the games.
The Olympics can make the improbable possible, including the unexpected warming of tensions between North and South Korea, who are marching together in the opening ceremony and sending a combined women’s ice hockey team to the games.
As we age, we don’t always spring out of bed the same way and we may lose a step or two in our reaction time. We gain, however, the benefit of each year of life experiences, observing how we, and the world around us, change.
Daly decided to return to the sport, where he has made his third Olympic team. The poet Horace, who published the immortal Latin phrase “carpe diem,” meaning “seize the day,” would be proud.
No one knows how Daly will do in a few weeks. Could he medal? His coach Tuffy Latour thinks so.
Latour said that Daly “never really lost it.”
Sometimes, Latour said, the time away helps athletes better prepare for the next Olympics, allowing them to gain a fresh perspective.
Coming back, however, may prove equally important for Daly, who is hoping to rewrite the final chapter of a sliding odyssey. Many years from now, he hopes he may one day offer the same kind of support to his kids that he received from his parents James and Bennarda, whom he jokingly called “sliding enablers.”
Regardless of the outcome, that older version of himself may thank him for giving it one more try.
Suffolk County police arrested a Bohemia man Jan. 21 for allegedly robbing TD Bank in Smithtown.
John Scrofani Jr. entered TD Bank at 714 Route 347 at 10:57 a.m. Sunday and presented a note to a teller demanding cash. The teller complied and Scrofani Jr. fled. Fourth Precinct officers responded and located him in a vehicle on Route 347 at Brooksite Drive in Smithtown a short time later.
Major Case Unit detectives charged Scrofani Jr., 31, with third-degree robbery. He was held overnight at the 4th Precinct and arraigned on Jan. 22 at First District Court in Central Islip.
Smithtown West’s Chris Crespo leaps for a layup. Photo by Bill Landon
By Bill Landon
Defense was the difference-maker in a game of crosstown rivals Jan. 3.
Smithtown West held host Smithtown East to just 17 points through the first 16 minutes of play, and outscored the Bulls 31-14 in the second half to nab a 56-31 League II win.
“We always play hard — we’ve held our opponents to the least points in the county per game for the last two years,” said Smithtown West point guard Chris Crespo. “We play defense, and that’s how we win games.”
Smithtown West’s Michael Gannon scored a game-high 26 points. Photo by Bill Landon
Smithtown West’s Michael Gannon sparked the offense midway through the third quarter, draining his third 3-pointer of the game to put his team out front 32-18. Smithtown East struggled to contain the big man in the paint, where Crespo would consistently feed the 6-foot, 6-inch power forward, who battled his way to the rim time and time again.
“In this league you can’t sleep on any team though,” Gannon said despite his effort. “Anyone has a good shot at winning no matter who you play.”
The Crespo-Gannon combination was too much for East to contain, and Gannon banked 10 of his game-high 26 points in the final eight minutes. Crespo finished with 11 points.
Smithtown West head coach Mike Agostino wasn’t surprised at some points of the contest, saying he’s come to expect great things from Crespo and Gannon.
“Our point guard Chris [Crespo] is pretty good at getting the ball to the open player,” Agostino said. “He can find people, and he found Michael today and he was making shots.”
He said he thought the end results wasn’t indicative though of what his team is really made of.
“They’re very good, and they make you uncomfortable defensively — they throw you out of rhythm,” Agostino said. “We haven’t practiced for two days, and mentally you’re not out of rhythm, but physically you are, because you have to shoot every day.”
Smithtown East’s Chris Crespo guards against East’s Joe Neto. Photo by Bill Landon
Crespo still thought his challengers fought hard, saying he wasn’t surprised by the Bulls’ caliber of play, as both teams grew up together and know each other well.
“We know a lot of these guys, so you know what you’re getting, but when we play North Babylon or Copiague, it’s coach Agostino and coach [John] Tampori who do a fantastic job of prepping us before the game,” Crespo said. “[At]practice, they show us what to expect.”
Smithtown East head coach Keith Reyling said his team’s performance was not what he’d hoped it’d be for this point in the season.Atop the scoring chart was James Peters with nine points and John Cawley with six.
“We don’t ever expect to get out-worked, and we were severely out-worked by the other team tonight,” he said. “That’s uncharacteristic of us. We’re usually a hard-working, blue collar type of team, so it was disappointing to see that they worked so much harder than we did.”
Smithtown East will look to redeem the loss when the Bulls hit the road to face Huntington Jan. 5 at 5:45 p.m. Smithtown West is scheduled to be back in action on its home court today, Jan. 4. A 4 p.m. tip-off time is scheduled.
“We play North Babylon on Thursday, so we have one day to prepare,” Gannon said. “We’ll practice hard and go out and play hard.”
State assemblyman Mike Fitzpatrick with Rev. Myrel Bailey-Walton of Trinity African Methodist Episcopal Church in Smithtown. Photo from Facebook.
Pastoring a historic church with a small congregation needs confidence and faith — two qualities the reverend of Trinity African Methodist Episcopal Church at 229 New York Ave. in Smithtown naturally possesses.
The Rev. Myrel Bailey-Walton has been ensuring Trinity carries on since AME Bishop Richard Franklin Norris appointed her pastor five and a half years ago. While the church currently only has a handful of active congregants, the reverend isn’t worried.
“Numbers aren’t important,” Bailey-Walton said. “We make sure doors are open for anyone that needs us.”
She said during services and events, Smithtown residents and members of other AME churches, including Bethel AME Church in Setauket, will join Trinity’s regulars.
“We always have people stop by to see what’s going on and get involved,” Bailey-Walton said. “The neighbors around us are active as far as stopping by to see what’s going on and just letting us know that they’re there for us if we need them.”
“Her motto is even if it’s one [person] she has service.”
— Marlyn Leonard
Marlyn Leonard, wife of the Rev. Gregory Leonard of Bethel AME Church, said she has attended services at Trinity. Also, Bailey-Walton preaches at the Setauket church the third Sunday of every month.
“Her motto is even if it’s one [person] she has service,” Leonard said.
Leonard said the reverend’s sermons are phenomenal, and she recommends that churchgoers stop by Trinity to see Bailey-Walton in action.
“She’s happy all the time,” she said. “When you see her, she greets with a smile and a hug. That’s who she is.”
Bailey-Walton said Trinity AME celebrated its 107th anniversary in November.
“I feel that we’re significant in Smithtown,” she said. “We’re the only African-American church — even though we embrace all the community — but still it’s historical.”
The property was once the meeting spot for freed slaves in the town who would gather regularly on the property and, in 1910, their descendants built a church on the land, according to “Smithtown, New York, 1660-1929: Looking Back Through the Lens” by Noel Gish. In 1931, the AME Church of Smithtown bought the structure for a dollar from Isadora Smith.
State Assemblyman Michael Fitzpatrick (R-St. James) said he remembers playing basketball as a teenager in Brady Park across from the church on Sunday mornings and seeing people dressed in their finest attire. For him, recognizing the historical importance of the church is important. Fitzpatrick is reaching out to representatives of Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) to see if the church can receive recognition from the state’s Historic Preservation Office and possible financial assistance.
“We’re the only African-American church — even though we embrace all the community — but still it’s historical.”
— Rev. Myrel Bailey-Walton
Bailey-Walton said she balances her responsibilities as pastor with working full time and spending time with her husband, Leland, and 1-year-old child. To spread the word about the church, the reverend regularly posts on social media and the internet.
The reverend and Trinity’s congregation plan a variety of events through the year, including the church’s anniversary gala in November, an open house for the community and a Women’s Day event.
Leonard said Bailey-Walton juggles her responsibilities with grace and elegance.
“She answers her calling very well,” she said. “I can’t say enough about her. Since I’ve known her, she just grasps everything in a bundle, and what needs to be done, she gets it done by the grace of God.”
Leonard said in addition to working with her congregation, Bailey-Walton is always there to help with people outside of her community, especially when it comes to children or wherever there is a need by
participating in volunteer efforts.
“She’s a role model not only for God’s house but also for the community and others,” Leonard said.
Fitzpatrick said Bailey-Walton has been working with groups such as the Boys Scouts and Royal Rangers from Smithtown Gospel Tabernacle to complete projects at the church and grounds. Work that he said is significant due to the church’s historical importance. The assemblyman believes Bailey-Walton is a perfect fit for the church and is confident in her leadership abilities.
“She is a dynamo, she really is,” he said. “She is very committed. She knows God has her back, and she’s going to do her very best to keep this church alive. Any recognition of her is well deserved.”
Small business owners like Marion Bernholz, who owns The Gift Corner, above, are trying to find ways to compete with big box stores. Photo by Marion Bernholz
By Kyle Barr
For 40 minutes each morning when Marion Bernholz, the owner of The Gift Corner in Mount Sinai, opens her shop she lugs out all the product she keeps on the front porch all by herself. She does it every day, hoping the colors and interesting items will flag down cars traveling on North Country Road.
Thanksgiving day she was closed, but on Black Friday she put out her flags, signs, decorations, not expecting many customers at all, she said. Black Friday is perceived as a day for gaudy sales for the bigger stores with nationwide brands, or the Amazons of the world, though it has become just the appetizer for a weekend synonymous with shopping.
Ecolin Jewelers in Port Jefferson is co-owned by Linda Baker. Photo from Linda Baker
Instead, people flooded Bernholz’s store the weekend after Thanksgiving, and the customers kept streaming in even after Black Friday was days passed.
“We were busy on Friday, way busier than we had been since the bust, when the economy went down,” Bernholz said, beaming with excitement. “Wednesday was a spike. Friday was a major spike. It was so busy Saturday that people couldn’t find parking. There was a line out the door.”
At Elements of Home, a home and gift shop in St. James less than 12 miles from Gift Corner, the situation was different. Owner Debbie Trenkner saw Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday float by with only a small bump in sales, she said.
Though she advertised, Trenkner said that she only received a moderate boost in sales that weekend with only 27 people walking through her door on Black Friday, and only about 70 Saturday when she said she expected to see hundreds.
“After speaking to other retailers or feeling through the grapevine, all major events this year, Mother’s Day, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, we’ve done half the amount we’ve done in the past,” she said. “People do not shop local. Those that do are your 50-and-over crowd who do not like to order online. Younger people these days they are so attached to their phone, it’s their lifeline, in my opinion. It’s unfortunate because this is what communities are based on.”
“People do not shop local. Those that do are your 50-and-over crowd who do not like to order online. Younger people these days they are so attached to their phone.”
—Debbie Trenkner
The similar local stores had polar opposite experiences during one of the busiest shopping weekends of the holiday season, though businesses overall this past Small Business Saturday, an event first sponsored by American Express in 2010, did very well though they fell short of 2016 numbers in total. According to the National Federation of Independent Business, 108 million consumers spent $12.9 billion Nov. 25.
Despite the slight dip from 2016, the data shows a much higher number of consumers are making the conscious decision to shop locally on the biggest spending date of the year for small businesses.
Stacey Finkelstein, an associate professor of marketing at Stony Brook University, said in a phone interview she has used psychological and behavioral economics to inform people about marketing problems, and she said a battle between instant gratification and the desire to support local stores is being waged for today’s consumers.
“Another tension for a lot of consumers who face this dilemma layered on top of this is this ethical quandary, which is ‘I want to support businesses that are consistent with my code of ethics and the values that I have as a consumer,’” Finkelstein said.
That value-based sales pitch is important, especially when it comes to the services offered. Many local businesses surveyed after this Black Friday weekend across the North Shore agreed the services they provide, whether it’s free gift wrapping or the ability to make a custom product, or even the ability to offer hands-on help to customers trying to figure out what gift is best, are the types of factors that neither online nor most large stores can match.
Fourth World Comics in Smithtown. Photo by Kyle Barr
“I think the most important thing to do besides creating an emotional experience and offering, obviously, great service is to really think about the values of those consumers in the local town and try and tap into those local values, such as if a town is really interested in sustainability, or ethically sourced food,” Finkelstein said.
One of the biggest questions that small business owners ask is whether young people are still willing to shop local. The consensus is they are the “plugged-in” generation, but that fact can be harnessed to work in favor of small business owners.
“Social issues are particularly important for a lot of millennials,” she said. “You tend to see a lot of that. I definitely don’t think millennials should be written off. I’m big into knitting, and if you ask what’s the stereotype for knitting, for example, is that grandmas knit, but actually there’s this active and large youthful contingent of knitters that are really driving and shaping that industry in a completely fascinating way. I think what it’s about is that millennials have these ethically laden values where they want to buy things that are local, that are environmentally sustainable.”
While many stores surveyed said this Black Friday weekend was “better than average” to “great,” there were several stores that did not see anywhere near the same boost in traffic. While the weather was nice, stores that didn’t meet expectations cited insufficient support from their local governments, or locations with little foot traffic, as their main deterrents.
Reactions from local store owners
Port Jefferson—Ecolin Jewelers
Co-owner Linda Baker:
We tend to run our sales to support our loyal customers, support our repeat customers. We had 20 percent off many items in the store, not all. That hasn’t been a big motivation to shop. In our industry
either they know us or they don’t.
The village was decorated nice and we had a good weekend. Black Friday for most retailers, for independent mom-and-pop retailers, has not been a big day for us. Our business is the last two weeks of the year. I think Black
Friday is when mom and dad go to look at televisions or cars — one big
purchase. It’s not a downtown thing. I don’t compare same day to same day from years before. I think there are too many variables, whether it’s the weather
or the news. Though I’d say this year was better than last year across the board.
Mount Sinai—The Gift Corner
Owner Marion Bernholz:
I don’t think Black Friday is as big of a thing anymore. We had people coming in at 10 a.m. and I asked them why they weren’t out shopping and they would say, “Oh, we don’t do that anymore.” I think people just don’t like to rush anymore, plus all the deals are available all week long, so there’s almost no point. Maybe, eventually, people will be able to have Thanksgiving dinner with their family, that’s the hope.
Though this was one of the best Black Fridays I’ve had since the bust in 2008, I went back and I looked at the papers for how it was in 2005. I couldn’t count it all — it was like the funds were flowing like water. It’s never
going to be 2005 again.
Half the people who came in my store on Saturday had no clue [about Small Business Saturday]. We’d be like, “OK, now we’ll explain it to you. Good that you’re here, and this is what it’s about.”
Rocky Point—Rocky Point Cycle
Owner Gary Wladyka:
We didn’t advertise but had in-store deals. We had discounts on shoes and sunglasses. There were more customers that Friday because more people had Friday off.
We’re always trying to get more customers, but we’re more of a
destination shop rather than a “Let’s go take a look” type thing.
This is the beginning of the end for small business. It’s going to continue to demise with people wanting to do
everything on the internet. The way new consumers are, it’s going to be hard to grow it. We try to provide service. You’re not going to get service online.
Setauket—All Seasons at Ari’s Treasures
Owner Jeff Aston:
We have an online presence. We did very well online over the course of the weekend. The store was busy. I’m a Christmas shop, so it’s kind of the height of our season now. We were offering 20 percent off storewide, we had some 25 percent-off items, some 50 percent-off items. We definitely went along with trying to capture that audience.
We do custom sign making and engraving, and it’s a little more of a custom product. I’m not sure how Black Friday helped us with that part of the business, but overall it was a good weekend. I’d say it was comparable to last year.
People want personalization, they want customization. You have to see the expression on people’s faces when they see our work. I’ve been in the Christmas business for 40 years, and I’ve never done anything more rewarding for my customers than what I’m doing now.
Young people today push a button and they get what they want. I’ve gotten away from the similar product you will see on Amazon. The beauty of the internet is that we can put our product out online. We’re on Etsy, and for the small business person who’s creating something themselves, Etsy is the way to go.
Smithtown—4th World Comics
Manager Terence Fischette:
“We didn’t do too much in sales. We did a lot of half-price items, took out a lot of stuff we wanted to get out of the back room. We don’t really compete with any of the big stores when it comes to Black Friday. We ended up doing a lot better than a normal Friday because people are out and in the shopping mood. The weekend was kind of normal, but it was one of the better Black Fridays that we’ve had in years.
You see some regular customers, you see some new people. Comics are definitely more popular now, people see the sign and they pull over. It’s a lot more gifts and toys. Whenever a new superhero movie comes out you’ll see kids coming in who want the new Captain America or the new Thor book. Black Friday is more of just toys, T-shirts and stuff like that.
We have our own holiday sale on Dec. 16 and that’s one of our biggest holiday sales of the year.”
Smithtown
4th World Comics (Comics, figurines and memorabilia)
Manager Terence Fischette:
“We didn’t do too much in sales. We did a lot of half-price items, took out a lot of stuff we wanted to get out of the back room. We don’t really compete with any of the big stores when it comes to Black Friday. We ended up doing a lot better than a normal Friday because people are out and in the shopping mood. The weekend was kind of normal, but it was one of the better Black Fridays that we’ve had in years.
You see some regular customers, you see some new people. Comics are definitely more popular now, people see the sign and they pull over. It’s a lot more gifts and toys. Whenever a new superhero movie comes out you’ll see kids coming in who want the new Captain America or the new Thor book. Black Friday is more of just toys, T-shirts and stuff like that.
We have our own holiday sale on Dec. 16 and that’s one of our biggest holiday sales of the year.”
Northport—Einstein’s Attic
Owner Lori Badanes:
“We did great, it was wonderful. We offered a lot of in store promotions. We had an Elf on a Shelf here, we read a story to the kids and the kids got a notebook and a pencil. They got to fill out a wish list, then all the kids got to make an ornament. We had giveaways, and make your own putty on Saturday.
We started planning this in the summer, back in August. We do it every year.
We did better this year than other years — 17 percent better. It was a nice jump. One thing is that we offered some light ups for an outdoor event. The kids got a lot of things to take home. I feel we’re a community-based business, and we support our community every chance we get.”
Huntington—Cow Over the Moon
Owner Brian Drucker:
“I feel like Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, definitely did better than previous years. I didn’t do any specific specials that I can think of offhand.
It was a mixture of new people and regulars coming through. The big thing about a store like this being here for 23 years is that we have a steady number of regulars, but I saw a good crop of new customers come in.
One of the things I also do is sports memorabilia, and Aaron Judge [who plays for the New York Yankees] is one of the hottest, hottest things in the world. He had one of the greatest rookie seasons ever in baseball, so we sold a bunch of Aaron Judge autographed memorabilia, some pretty expensive stuff.
It’s hard to explain … why we did well. You never can tell you know, there was just a lot of people walking around. The townwas pretty booming.”
Smithtown Supervisor Ed Wehrheim has approached Gryodyne LLC about a shared sewer plant on Flowerfield property in St. James. Photo by Heidi Sutton
Suffolk lawmakers have taken the first step toward preservation of nearly 41 acres in St. James as open space.
The county legislature voted at its Nov. 21 meeting to approve a bill introduced by Legislators Kara Hahn (D-Setauket) and Rob Trotta (R-Fort Salonga) for an appraisal of part of the Gyrodyne LLC property in St. James, also known as Flowerfield, that runs along Route 25A. The property contains freshwater wetlands and adjacent wetlands that feed into the Long Island Sound, Mill Pond in Stony Brook and Stony Brook Harbor.
“I am greatly appreciative of my legislative colleagues’ support for our effort to preserve 41 undeveloped acres of the former Gyrodyne property,” Hahn said. “With the owner actively seeking to develop the property, this perhaps is the community’s last stand to preserve one of the last large undeveloped tracts remaining in western Suffolk County. I am hopeful that the owner will understand the property’s overall environmental significance and its potential to negatively impact surrounding ground and surface waters, traffic safety and overall quality of life should it be developed.”
The bill, which now goes to Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (D) for his approval, allows for the county’s planning division to assess the owner’s interest in selling the tract to the county for open space purposes. An interest by Gyrodyne would mean the county could follow its initial outreach by obtaining a real estate appraisal and additional legal and environmental reviews that are required for a potential sale from the company to the county. According to county law, if sale of the land parcel can be negotiated, funding will come from the county’s Drinking Water Protection Program.
“With the owner actively seeking to develop the property, this perhaps is the community’s last stand to preserve one of the last large undeveloped tracts remaining in western Suffolk County.”
— Kara Hahn
While preservation of the land is being considered, a conceptual development plan from Gyrodyne was approved by the Suffolk County Planning Committee Aug. 2 and was met with resistance from Stony Brook and St. James residents.
Over the summer, the property’s owner submitted an application to the Town of Smithtown to construct a 150-room hotel with restaurant and day spa, two medical office buildings totaling 128,400 feet and two long-term care buildings that would have a total 220 assisted living units on the property. Many in the area raised concerns about the amount of traffic that would empty out onto Route 25A and Stony Brook Road if an exit to the Brookhaven street was made accessible on the east side.
Trotta said he’s not completely against development as he realizes the community needs businesses such as the proposed assisted living facility. However, Trotta said he understands the community’s concerns about traffic and would like to see a good amount of the property preserved.
“It’s always about balance,” he said.
Trotta said he believes Gyrodyne will be willing to work with the community.
“I don’t think it’s unreasonable to have it appraised and get into discussions with what the community wants, what can we put up with traffic-wise and meet somewhere in the middle,” Trotta said.
At a Nov. 15 Smithtown Planning Board meeting, Gyrodyne representatives said their own traffic studies proved residents had sound reason to be concerned about increased traffic and pointed to six local intersections that needed improvement. The results were submitted to the Town of Smithtown and New York State Department of Transportation in October 2017 but have yet to be reviewed. Conrad Chayes Sr., chairman of the Smithtown Planning Board, concluded the board would hold off on a decision until an environmental impact study is completed by the town, which he said may take up to a year.
Hahn said the commercial development of the land would “fundamentally change the character of the Stony Brook and St. James communities.”
“Each of us, regardless of which side of the Brookhaven-Smithtown border you reside on, is threatened by this project moving forward,” Hahn said. “For that reason, Legislator Robert Trotta and I put forward legislation to preserve these environmentally and historically important parcels from being destroyed.”
This Thanksgiving, more than 1,600 residents participated in the Nissequogue River State Park Foundation’s annual 1K Turkey Trot and 5K Run/Walk for the Park. Photo by Karen Forman
This Thanksgiving, more than 1,600 residents participated in the Nissequogue River State Park Foundation’s annual 1K Turkey Trot and 5K Run/Walk for the Park. Photo by Karen Forman
This Thanksgiving, more than 1,600 residents participated in the Nissequogue River State Park Foundation’s annual 1K Turkey Trot and 5K Run/Walk for the Park. Photo by Karen Forman
This Thanksgiving, more than 1,600 residents participated in the Nissequogue River State Park Foundation’s annual 1K Turkey Trot and 5K Run/Walk for the Park. Photo by Karen Forman
This Thanksgiving, more than 1,600 residents participated in the Nissequogue River State Park Foundation’s annual 1K Turkey Trot and 5K Run/Walk for the Park. Photo by Karen Forman
This Thanksgiving, more than 1,600 residents participated in the Nissequogue River State Park Foundation’s annual 1K Turkey Trot and 5K Run/Walk for the Park. Photo by Karen Forman
This Thanksgiving, more than 1,600 residents participated in the Nissequogue River State Park Foundation’s annual 1K Turkey Trot and 5K Run/Walk for the Park. Photo by Karen Forman
This Thanksgiving, more than 1,600 residents participated in the Nissequogue River State Park Foundation’s annual 1K Turkey Trot and 5K Run/Walk for the Park. Photo by Karen Forman
This Thanksgiving, more than 1,600 residents participated in the Nissequogue River State Park Foundation’s annual 1K Turkey Trot and 5K Run/Walk for the Park. Photo by Karen Forman
This Thanksgiving, more than 1,600 residents participated in the Nissequogue River State Park Foundation’s annual 1K Turkey Trot and 5K Run/Walk for the Park. Photo by Karen Forman
This Thanksgiving, more than 1,600 residents participated in the Nissequogue River State Park Foundation’s annual 1K Turkey Trot and 5K Run/Walk for the Park. Photo by Karen Forman
This Thanksgiving, more than 1,600 residents participated in the Nissequogue River State Park Foundation’s annual 1K Turkey Trot and 5K Run/Walk for the Park. Photo by Karen Forman
This Thanksgiving, more than 1,600 residents participated in the Nissequogue River State Park Foundation’s annual 1K Turkey Trot and 5K Run/Walk for the Park. Photo by Karen Forman
This Thanksgiving, more than 1,600 residents participated in the Nissequogue River State Park Foundation’s annual 1K Turkey Trot and 5K Run/Walk for the Park. Photo by Karen Forman
This Thanksgiving, more than 1,600 residents participated in the Nissequogue River State Park Foundation’s annual 1K Turkey Trot and 5K Run/Walk for the Park. Photo by Karen Forman
This Thanksgiving, more than 1,600 residents participated in the Nissequogue River State Park Foundation’s annual 1K Turkey Trot and 5K Run/Walk for the Park. Photo by Karen Forman
This Thanksgiving, more than 1,600 residents participated in the Nissequogue River State Park Foundation’s annual 1K Turkey Trot and 5K Run/Walk for the Park. Photo by Karen Forman
More than 1,350 runners took part in the Nissequogue River State Park Foundation’s annual 5K Run/Walk for the Park held Thanksgiving Day. The foundation handed out more than $5,000 in cash prizes to the top finishers in the men’s and women’s divisions.
Smithtown resident Brendan Martin, 28, finished in first place with a time of 15 minutes, 19 seconds, averaging 4 minutes, 56 seconds per mile, according to EliteFeats results page.
Sarah Hardie, 21, of East Northport was the first woman to cross the finish line with a time of 17 minutes, 20 seconds. She averaged a pace of 5 minutes 35 seconds per mile.
The 5K race, in addition to the 1K Turkey Trot for Kids, are sponsored by the Reichert family of Fort Salonga, Bethpage Federal Credit Union and IGA supermarket, to raise funds to enhance and beautify the park. The Nissequogue River State Park covers more than 522 acres of the former Kings Park Psychiatric Center.
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