‘Over 60’ Set Rocks Oyster Festival
Once again, I was astounded by what The Life Enrichment Center can accomplish with our team of seniors supporting us every step of the way.
The Oyster Festival is truly a testament to the uniqueness of Oyster Bay. While other communities enjoy their annual fall festivals with the usual pumpkin patches and Halloween parties, Oyster Bay is all hands on deck for the best of the best in food, entertainment for young and old, arts and crafts galore.
My first Oyster Festival was a great experience and so much more than I could have imagined. As the trains starting rolling in with thousands of visitors and the festival grounds started filling up, it was then that I realized what a tremendous undertaking this all was for our friends who organize the event. Congratulations to Bev Zemko, our beloved board member Paul Rosen and their teams of trusty assistants for putting on a fantastic show.
I was in awe of how efficiently our staff and volunteers handled the center’s traditional “Clam Chowder” booth. By 8 a.m. on Saturday the team was ready to go with giant pots of boiling water preparing soup for serving stations. Prep teams and serving teams worked as a well-oiled machine guaranteeing hot delicious soup within moments to the more than 5,500 guests from across Long Island, Queens and Manhattan. Of course we can’t forget our seniors who helped prepare for the day…rolling 8,000-plus spoons and napkins, staging the items that would go on the truck, and providing extra help in the kitchen the days leading up to the festival to support Chef Anthony.
The Oyster Festival by design provides much needed funding opportunities to many organizations that provide important services to the community. For the center, the Oyster Festival is our largest fundraising event of the year. Preliminary numbers show a whopping $20,000+ in revenue that support our senior programs.
The center’s program manager Mary Frignani, and Center Chef, Anthony, were a wonderful management team, who along with administrative assistant Jill Mason laid the ground work for two perfect days. Their tireless efforts to plan, organize and oversee the activities are commendable and critical to the success of the day.
A million thanks to volunteers, staff and board members that teamed up to provide the hands on help needed to execute a flawless delivery! A special thanks to Bob and Sandy Rose for taking on extremely important roles in preparing equipment for the event, being on hand both days for back-up management, and overseeing our cash processes.
I am proud to be part of an event that so beautifully portrays Oyster Bay as the special place we lovingly call home.
