A taste of the Greek life

by Giselle Barkley - August 24, 2015

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Long Islanders enjoyed food, rides and games at the Greek Festival in Port Jefferson Station, an annual event hosted by the Greek Orthodox Church of the Assumption.

The festival ran from Aug. 20 to Aug. 23. Before finding their way to the food, rides and games, people who attended the four-day event could pick up raffle tickets for Sunday’s raffle drawing, buy toys and jewelry and other things from the vendors. Those who entered the drawing could win prizes like a car, various electronics and cash, among other prizes. Visitors could dance or watch a group of dancers perform several traditional Greek dances and many viewed the 30-minute fireworks display on two of the festival evenings before returning to their games and rides or going home for the night.

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Port Jefferson climbs that hill at Heritage Weekend

by TBR Staff - August 24, 2015

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Port Jefferson jumped into a time machine over the weekend, hosting a new event that celebrated the local culture, traditions, history and achievements.

Heritage Weekend saw historical fun at several locations throughout Port Jefferson and Belle Terre, including at the library on Thompson Street, at the Cedar Hill Cemetery and at the Port Jefferson Village Center, where vintage cars lined up for the Hill Climb on Sunday before making the 2,000-foot ascent of East Broadway to Belle Terre Road.

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Castles made of sand

by Victoria Espinoza - August 20, 2015

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Huntington Town hosts 4th Annual Sand Castle Contest

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Five teams competed in Huntington Town’s 4^th Annual Sand Castle contest, held at Crab Meadow Beach on Wednesday, Aug. 19. The event, hosted by Councilman Mark Cuthbertson’s (D) office, included lifeguards as judges and teams won awards for designs that were most creative, most original and more.

Mark DelGuidice & Big Shot wrap up Rocky Point concert series

by Giselle Barkley - August 19, 2015

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Long Islanders and their friends and family members gathered on Tuesday for the Rocky Point concert series’ last performance of the year.

Community members danced, sang and cried during the Mark DelGuidice & Big Shot: The Ultimate Billy Joel Tribute, which began at 7 p.m The band’s performance wrapped up this year’s Rocky Point Summer Concert series, which began in early July.

The North Brookhaven Chamber of Commerce alongside members of the Veterans of Foreign War were two of the organizations that attended the concert.

During an intermission period, the Veterans of Foreign War were invited on stage for the audience to pay tribute to their service. Legislator Sarah Anker (D-Mount Sinai) was also among the crowd. Anker, who announced the schedule for the Rocky point concert series, joined the veterans on stage as Joe Cognitore, commander of the Veterans of Foreign War, waved the American flag.

The audience members remained at the concert until late in the evening as they enjoyed the tribute, which feature Billy Joel songs as well as songs by Elton John and other artists.

Firefighters soak competition at NYS championship

by Giselle Barkley - August 18, 2015

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Suffolk and Nassau County fire departments tried to smoke their competition on Saturday, Aug. 15, at New York State’s annual Motorized Drill, at Fireman’s Memorial Park in Ridge.

Fifty drill teams competed to earn the title of state champion at the event, which featured eight challenges including the 3 Man Ladder; the Motor Hook and Ladder class B and C contests; the Motor Hose class B and C contests; Efficiency; Motor Pump and Buckets.

While two teams, the Central Islip Hoboes and the West Sayville Flying Dutchmen, were crowned co-champions, the Miller Place Extinguishers didn’t place in the competition. Other local teams like the Selden Slowpokes competed in the event, but they also didn’t place in the competition. The Rocky Point Rum Raiders didn’t attend the event.

The Extinguishers placed sixth in the 3 Man Ladder challenge, but took the 23rd place in the B Ladder challenge. They then came in 29th place for the B Hose and Efficiency challenge. The team didn’t participate in the C Ladder and C Hose challenges, but they came in 14th for the Motor Pump and 28th for the Buckets portions of the competition.

According to Michael Heller of the New York State Drill Teams organization that helps plan the event, the eight obstacles in the competition are similar to those used to train firefighters. Although the competition is entertaining, Heller and Chief Michael Matteo of the Selden Fire Department said that the event helps with teamwork and relationship building.

“When you join a team — a competition team — everyone has their role to play, so they all work together as a team to accomplish the goal,” Heller said. “Firefighters on a team are used to working well with each other, and understand working with each other. Teamwork is critical when you’re in a fire to understand what a person is doing and what to do next.”

These competitions began in the 1800s, according to Heller and Matteo, but Matteo added that there are few places where 40 or more groups of people in New York State can get together, compete and congratulate their fellow competitors for their participation in the event.

On September 6, 1872 the Firemen’s Association of the State of New York was established in Auburn, which led to more organized competitions among the fire departments.

“They started with only the old fashion where it was all pull carts and steam engines and things like that, and then they moved into the motorized,” Matteo said.

The competition was the biggest event that the Selden Fire Department hosted thus far. They have held smaller events for the fire departments in the past, like the Selden Invitational Firefighter’s Drill.

Matteo also said there were around three teams that came back to compete in the Motorized Drill competition, as participants had been lacking in previous years, and few times there were repeat competitors. Additionally, there were around seven teams that could have taken first place after the Buckets challenge, the last part of the competition, but didn’t have as many points as the co-champions, making for a highly-contested day. According to Matteo, this typically doesn’t happen, but said it was nice to see.

“It’s just a great thing for the fire service,” Matteo said of the competition. “Ninty-five percent of firefighters are volunteers, so we’re giving our time when we’re not working one or two jobs. We’re taking away [time] from our families and we’re going out there.”

Long Island’s summer bird event

by TBR Staff - August 18, 2015

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By Wendy Mercier

Any summer day during low tide, there are a variety of birds that visit our Long Island shoreline. These beautiful birds migrate here to mate, nest and raise their young. Then they teach them to fly, forage and hunt. An abundance of species can be found in our local harbors, inlets, marshes and ponds. These photographs were taken at Stony Brook Harbor, Mount Sinai Harbor and Setauket Harbor.

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Furry, family-friendly fun in Huntington

by TBR Staff - August 17, 2015

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Little Shelter Animal Rescue & Adoption Center hosts 18th annual Pet-A-Palooza

The Little Shelter Animal Rescue & Adoption Center in Huntington held its 18^th annual Pet-A-Palooza event over the weekend, featuring cats, dogs, a Chinese auction, live entertainment, face-painting and more. The weekend-long event at the Warner Road shelter is a celebration of all things furry and friendly.

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Sound Beach Fire Department celebrates 85 years

by Erika Karp - August 10, 2015

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The Sound Beach Fire Department celebrated its 85th anniversary with a parade and fair on Saturday, Aug. 8. The event drew hundreds of spectators on the beautiful afternoon, as well as neighboring fire departments Miller Place, Rocky Point, Mount Sinai, Selden, Port Jefferson and Terryville.

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East Northport has fair time with fire department

by Victoria Espinoza - August 10, 2015

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Residents of the Huntington area gathered at the annual East Northport Volunteer Fire Department’s fair last weekend. The fair had rides for all ages, games with prizes, raffles, live music and food for all to enjoy.

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Early morning storm rocks North Shore

by Phil Corso - August 4, 2015

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Severe weather toppled trees and downed power lines across the North Shore on Tuesday morning, leaving roads unnavigable and residents without electricity in areas including Port Jefferson, Setauket, Smithtown and Stony Brook.

The National Weather Service sent out three separate thunderstorm warnings in the early morning hours between 4 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. citing reports of hail, thunderstorms and wind damage with trees falling onto homes and power lines down throughout the Port Jefferson area. By daybreak, intense winds and rain made way for a sunny morning that revealed the aftermath of the storm. Trees were in the streets and traffic lights had gone black.

By 11 a.m. on Tuesday, utility PSEG Long Island reported more than 20,000 customers in Brookhaven Town without power and more than 8,000 in Smithtown. Over 42,000 customers were affected in total and as of 10:30 a.m. 38,027 are without power throughout Long Island and the Rockaways, PSEG said.

Route 25A in East Setauket was a hotbed of activity on Tuesday morning, and the Suffolk County Police Department urged drivers to treat outed traffic lights as stop signs in lieu of electricity. In fact, SCPD requested all drivers to completely avoid Route 25A all together on Tuesday morning in Port Jefferson, Setauket and Stony Brook as various road closures were underway to remove trees from the streets. By 10:30 a.m., SCPD announced that Route 25A was closed in both directions between Franklin Street and Stony Hill Road in Port Jefferson.

Lights along Nicolls Road in Stony Brook, and all lights from Nicolls Road on Route 25A stretching to Main Street in Setauket were out this morning. Tree and leaves were strewn across Route 25A, and traffic moved slowly along the thoroughfare in the Setauket and Stony Brook areas. SCPD cars were a common sight. The lights were out at many businesses along Main Street in Stony Brook.

In a statement, Brookhaven Supervisor Ed Romaine said he was working with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office to coordinate resources to respond to hard-hit areas.

“The storm that hit this morning caused extensive damage and power outages throughout the North Shore, and I have authorized all resources from Parks and Waste Management Departments to assist the Highway Department in the clean-up effort,” he said. “Our Emergency Operations Center was activated at 6:30 a.m. and currently, a PSEG representative is coordinating efforts to restore power to more than 21,000 Brookhaven residents.”

The Smithtown Fire Department responded to a call of the first of many downed power lines at 5:01 a.m., according to spokesman Jeff Bressler. The alarms were the result of a quick-moving powerful storm that made its way through the Smithtown area. As of 8:43 a.m., eight calls were dispatched for wires in addition to a CO activation and a mutual aid to a structural fire in St. James, Bressler said.

The National Weather Service also issued a coastal hazard message as the storm battered the North Shore, warning residents to watch out for strong rip currents flowing away from the shorelines.

Rohma Abbas contributed to this report.

Tweet us your updates on the aftermath of the storm @TBRNewspapers.

Send us your storm photos to [email protected].

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