It was a great weekend in Oyster Bay. The snow didn’t come but it did cancel the Oyster Bay-East Norwich School District budget presentation. It was re-scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 23. [That left Saturday morning free for some of us.]
Raynham Hall Museum held its fabulous fund raiser at Planting Fields on Feb. 6, and Rebecca Finelli, co-chair said, “It went well. Most people liked having it at Planting Fields Coe Hall mansion. It’s a lovely place and has a romantic atmosphere which went with the theme of the event – Valentine’s Day. We were delighted to have Barbara Ernst Prey as our honoree. She has been a very generous supporter of the museum for quite a while. She is a lovely individual, and a friend of Raynham Hall and we thought it was a great year to honor her.”
Oyster Bay artist Barbara Enst Prey was presented with an engraved crystal dish as a remembrance of the event.
Gail Speranza, Doubleday Babcock Senior Center executive director, said the concert on Saturday was fabulous. “It was fortunate for an evening that was possibly facing a snowstorm. It was just about fun and bringing the two organizations, DBSC and the Oyster Bay Cooperative Preschool and their supporters together for this donated performance.
“The bass player of the Legendary Hooligans, a classic rock band, is a parent at the OBC Preschool and after the nor’easter that hit the Oyster Festival he came forward and offered to have a concert to re-coup the lost funds. Bev Zembko called and said, ‘You have the room and we can’t have the program without you; and we partner together with you on the DayBreak program.’ So our donation was the room and it really was a partnership.”
On Sunday, Feb. 7, the Oyster Bay Lunar New Year Festival was held by the Long Island Tzu Chi Academy, a Chinese culture and language Sunday school backed by Buddhist Tzu Chi Relief & Compassion Foundation, which uses the OBHS for classes.
The festival was a fun family event for people who enjoy Chinese culture. We dropped in to visit and enjoyed seeing children playing traditional folk games like Chinese paper cut, lantern riddles, coloring Peking Opera masks and more! It was a hands-on activity day and all the children were having fun.
We watched teachers instructing students in the auditorium with their dance/singing routine and it was awesome to see the positive energy of the teachers and students.
It was a lovely cultural experience that we know the community enjoyed.
We dropped in at the new exhibit at the Chase Edwards Gallery – which was delightful. There is also a new exhibit at the Atelier Studio with pictures by Jerelyn Hanrahan called “Tribe: Paintings from the Lower East Side, 1982-1987.”
She said, “These are a series of oil portraits and cityscapes I did while living on 10th Street and Avenue A in the early ’80s a very exciting and bohemian time to be living in New York.”
She added, “People have responded very favorably to the paintings.”
So there you have it. Another great cultural weekend in Oyster Bay, and the year has just begun. – DFK
