All in a Weekend: A Round-Up of Events on the Forks
This being Memorial Day Weekend, the most important thing you can do is find someone from a local VFW hall and beg them to sell you a poppy. When you have finished with that, find out where your local Memorial Day Parade is being held this weekend with The Beacon’s Memorial Day Parade Guide.
There’s a ton going on this weekend on both forks, and a lot of it is inside, which is a good thing since it’s looking like a lot of beachgoing and barbecues could be rained out. Let’s start with the annual festivals:
Community Mosaic
East End Arts’ annual Community Mosaic street painting festival will be held on Sunday, May 25 from noon to 5 p.m. in downtown Riverhead. The rain date is May 26 from 2 to 5 p.m. Everyone is invited to create a chalk panel on the road, and there will also be a craft fair, music and food trucks at this 18th annual event. Pre-registered chalk painters will be paired with a sponsor, and chalk painters who register the day of the show pay $20 per panel. More information is online here.
New Suffolk Chowderfest
The New Suffolk Waterfront Fund hosts its annual Chowderfest on the North Fork to raise money for the restoration of the waterfront on Sat., May 24 from noon to 3 p.m. This family event features a wide variety of locally prepared chowders, a full barbecue lunch, activities for the kids, and live dance music by Who Are Those Guys. Over 50 varieties of perennial plants and wares from several North Fork artisans available for purchase as well. All proceeds go toward the restoration and revitalization of the New Suffolk Waterfront property. The rain date is May 26. Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door and children under 12 free. Tickets are available online here.
Re-opening the Whaling Museum
The Sag Harbor Whaling & Historical Museum is hosting a kick-off party Sunday night to celebrate the re-opening of the museum after a major renovation, and raise funds for the ongoing capital campaign to restore the museum.
The Rolling In Dough food truck will provide wood-fired, brick-oven pizzas all night long, with music by DJ Mister Lama. Montauk Brewing Company is serving up iced cold brews and Sylvester & Co is bringing down their signature dreamy blend iced coffee and ice cream. They’ll have wines from Channing Daughters, juices from Bai5, snacks and salads.
The $75 ticket price include food, drinks, and dessert. Tickets are available online here.
Community Spelling Bee
It looks like the Jamesport Meeting House is getting quite a crew together to spell-off Friday night. When I last talked to Nancy Gilbert, who is helping organize the spelling bee, there were about 20 spellers just itching to get onstage and join the cause of raising money for the preservation of the meeting house, and more have joined since. More information is online here.
There’s plenty of theater on the forks this weekend too:
Into the Woods
The North Fork Community Theatre’s production of “Into the Woods” opened last weekend, and continues for the next two weeks, and it’s quite a show. The Beacon’s full review is online here.
God of Carnage
Hampton Theatre Company in Quogue is presenting “God of Carnage,” which opened Thursday night and runs through June 8.
The Olivier Award-winning volatile comedy that reveals how quickly and disastrously the thin veneer of civility can be stripped away when two sets of parents attempt to discuss a confrontation between their sons.
“God of Carnage” is written by Yasmina Reza, translated by Christopher Hampton and directed by Diana Marbury. It stars Andrew Botsford, Rosemary Cline, Joe Pallister and Jessica Ellwood.
Shows are Thursdays and Fridays at 7 p.m., Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2:30 p.m.
Tickets are available online here.
Red
Guild Hall in East Hampton is putting up a revival of “Red,” a Tony-Award-winning play, starring Victor Slezak and Christian Scheider, about two years in the life of the abstract expressionist Mark Rothko, who has been commissioned to create a series of murals for the Four Seasons Restaurant scheduled to open in the new Seagram Building. The play takes place over two years as Rothko works feverishly in his Bowery studio with his young assistant Ken. The two passionately debate the nature of art and why it matters. Tickets are available online here.
At the Galleries
Gallery openings abound on the forks this weekend, including an opening for the Sag Harbor Whaling Museum’s “Whale of a Tale” show and the Springs Improvement Society’s annual members show at Ashawagh Hall, both on Friday night, and the season-opening show of works by Anne Holton and Marilyn Stevenson at Gallery Crossing in Peconic and a closing reception for Colin Goldberg’s North Fork Modernism at the South Street Gallery in Greenport on Saturday night. The Beacon’s full list of gallery openings is online here.
One-Night Shebangs at Peforming Arts Venues
The HooDoo Loungers are playing a free concert at the Parrish Art Museum and Luka Bloom is playing the Stephan Talkhouse Friday night. On Saturday night, Comedian Paula Poundstone brings her act to the Bay Street Theatre, Ricki Lee Jones will play the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center and Taj Mahal takes the stage at the Stephen Talkhouse. The Beacon’s complete music listings are online here.
See Bug Light
In the mood for something completely different? The East End Seaport Museum in Greenport is leading tours out at Bug Light in Orient both Saturday and Sunday from 4 to 6 p.m. Take a 15 minute ride aboard the Peconic Star II, then enter Bug Light, while narrator Bob Allen, an expert in local maritime history and the great grandson of William Follett, the last keeper of Bug Light, tells tales of days gone by. More information is online here.
