Harlan Friedman of The Harlan Group Will Promote Oyster Fest 2011
Harlan Friedman of The Harlan Group has been chosen as the new promoter for Oyster Festival 2011. Mr. Friedman is joining forces with Kerry Gillick Goldberg of KGG Enterprises to publicize the annual fundraising food festival.
“We got the gig last week, and we are brainstorming now, and hope to bring some fun things to the table,” said the Oyster Bay High School Class of ’91 graduate.
Rotarian Paul Rosen, who co-chairs Oyster Festival 2011 along with Kristin Reardon, said, “Harlan was referred by Kristin Reardon, who went to school with him. He won out in a competition with another agency in Huntington.
“We felt that because he was a hometown person he would fit perfectly into the Oyster Festival.” The Oyster Festival is run under the auspices of the Rotary Club of Oyster Bay.
Harlan, too, was happy with being chosen. He said, “We’re really very excited. It’s going to be a lot of fun!” He said, “The biggest thing this year is getting the nonprofit messages out and to tell their stories as part of the festival promotion.”
Career Moves
After high school, Mr.Friedman went on to study Communications and Public Relations at C.W. Post and has been working on Long Island using his many talents in the world of entertainment here and in NYC. He began his career handling large-scale promotions in clubs and events from Montauk to Manhattan in which he dealt with political leaders, motion picture celebrities and some of popular music’s biggest names. He hosted a WLIR program, eventually becoming its program director as well as for WBON and WDRE. He founded Tri-State Sound and created their concert series. He helped find Betamax Artist Development for young up and coming musicians, and joined the LI Press where he worked on among other things, the Best of Long Island awards.
“It was a big program that ran each year for 9 months from nominating to giving the awards,” he said. Friends of the Bay was a recipient of their environmental award.
That brings us to about when the entrepreneurial bug hit him and Harlan decided it was time to strike out on his own. Today, he has an office at 34 Audrey Avenue, next to Buckingham’s Variety Store, that he shares with Kerry Gillick Goldberg of KGG Enterprises who will be working on the promotions with him.
Oyster Fest Memories
Harlan said, “I’ve been to pretty much all of the Oyster Festivals. My parents were working at the very first Oyster Festival at the Knights of Columbus booth. They were selling clams there. I helped Jimmy Rossolino with the entertainment.” Mr. Rossolino, famous for his Pink Cadillac band, chaired the Oyster Fest Entertainment Committee for many years.
Harlan added, “Kerry comes from the not-for-profit world and has been doing PR for them – like One is Greater than None. It is a group of eight girls from Merrick who saw a special on 60 Minutes segment on slavery in Ghana and about a gentleman who for ‘X’ amount of dollars can save children from that life. They started making bracelets and selling them in school and saved one child. Their attitude was, ‘We can’t save every kid but better one than none. They have been on the Martha Stewart Show and on Oprah, and on radio shows. It’s an incredible thing she was a part of.”
Together, the two have an impressive list of clients including Bloomingdale’s, Disney Business Institute, Heckscher Art Museum, SUNY College at Old Westbury, Green City Challenge and London Jewelers, just to mention a few.
Additionally, if you watch the TV show Live It Up! you will hear Harlan as their sports correspondent; and he is also a columnist for Cultureshoq.com. Harlan has been tapped to sit on the committee for the USTA Serves opening gala for the 2011 US Open.
With a great background in various media, Harlan and Kerry will bring a new dimension to promoting the annual Oyster Festival.
