Summer Festival Heats Up This Weekend

Technically summer hasn't started yet, but you can get a jump on it this weekend and help preserve Massapequa's history.

The Massapequa Summer Festival  will be held Saturday and Sunday from 11 am to 6pm  in the parking lot of  the Massapequa Railroad Station. 

The event, sponsored by the Historical Society of the Massapequas, will feature arts and crafts from Showtiques, a Smithtown-based company that is Long Island’s largest promoter of fairs and festivals. 

It will have the feel of an old time marketplace as many of the items on sale will be handcrafted by various vendors.  

“It’s an American tradition,” Bill Colfer, president of the Massapequa Historical Society, said of the handiwork. “That’s how our country became great. It’s always nice to see someone who has a talent and shares it.”  

Colfer said he hopes the festival will  present an alternative to purchasing items in department stores or the mall in favor of buying original, unique items that might not be easily available.   

Eileen Sternkopf, of Showtiques, says the artists' work is “very different.” In addition to general merchandise that will be on  sale, such as tee-shirts and sundresses, Sternkopf  said the  festival will also showcase photographs and woodwork.  

Showtiques has a good record track record in Massapequa, according to Gail Kubnick, a member of the Historical Society. “They were here in April and they’re back again in June because they were so popular,” she said. 

Although the festival  is intended to have an old style feel,  the money Historical Society  raises is intended to help the organization “get into this century,” according to Colfer.  

“Most people don’t know that Massapequa goes back to 1696,” he said.  That's more than three centuries of records to take keep track of.

“We’re trying to digitize them,” Colfer said. Money will also go to help the organization maintain their three buildings: the Old Grace Church, Elbert Floyd Jones Service Cottage and Delancey Jones Library.

So if you're looking for something to do this weekend, check out the festival, you can buy some old school objects and help the Historical Society prepare for its future.