Dan’s Papers June 3, 2011 danshamptons.com Page 23
Bad Outcomes Fireworks, the Hook Mill and the Library in East Hampton By Dan Rattiner This week, there is news about two East Hampton traditions in trouble, and a third, a village institution, which had been in trouble due to the recent behavior of the East Hampton Village Zoning Board, just brought up short by a Judge deciding the Zoning Board’s behavior was irrational and baseless. These are not good times for this village. There are a lot of decisions that needed to have been made differently and were not. Things need to be thought through more carefully in my opinion. The first of the two traditions in trouble is the annual Fourth of July fireworks at East Hampton Village Main Beach. This is an event
that was held at that beach for nearly a century, every year on the Saturday night of Fourth of July weekend, until four years ago when the fireworks were moved to Labor Day weekend because of the presence of a very tiny endangered bird. Few people came to the Labor Day weekend fireworks and donations to hold them dried up. One man sent two pennies as a donation and said his two cents were to tell the Village to move the event back to the Fourth of July where it belonged. Now, this week, the Fire Department says they will probably cancel the event altogether after this summer.
For those of us who used to go to the fireworks on the Fourth of July here, this is a great disappointment. As many as 3,000 of us would drive down to the beach, park for those few hours that evening on all the roads nearby—parking regulations would be suspended—and carry lawn chairs and blankets and snacks out through the darkness to the beach. There we would settle down on the blankets, mingle with friends, cook and enjoy the food and the festivities. This relaxing of the laws so the townspeople could enjoy the celebration of our independence was one of the great annual family events in this community. Nothing else is like Main Beach in East (continued on page 38)
RUN DAN’S POTATOHAMPTON 5K ON SATURDAY By Elise D’Haene Hundreds will be gearing up for Potatohampton on Saturday, June 4, which begins at Militia Park in Bridgehampton on Ocean Road, just 50 yards south of Montauk Highway on the west side. This is probably the most scenic, gorgeous race in the Hamptons. It’s a serene, easy 5k that you can run, jog or walk, and proceeds from the race will garner lots of money for two extremely worthy causes: the American Heart Association and the Southampton Animal
Shelter. Jonathan McCann, the Board President of the Southampton Animal Shelter Foundation, said, “Dan’s Papers and the Potatohampton are highly valued traditions on Long Island. The Southampton Animal Shelter is a young organization—we privatized the shelter in January, 2010—we serve 22 towns in Southampton, and yet there are many people in those towns that do not know we exist. We are tremendously appreciative to Dan’s Potatohampton run to offer us the opportunity
to showcase the shelter and a few of the pets whose welfare is entrusted to us. In addition, our expenses continue to escalate; therefore, the donations derived from the 5k run are greatly needed.” A young couple, Amy and Peter, recently wrote to the Southampton Animal Shelter about a dog, Renny, that they adopted there: “She became our little baby right away and we love her so much that we even cut our honeymoon short because we missed her terribly. (continued on page 29)
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