Cultural Festival Could Be Coming to Mitchell Park in June

GREENPORT, NY — Hoping to bring the diverse village community together, the One Greenport Coalition has plans to propose a Cultural Festival for Mitchell Park this June.

Greenport Village Trustee Doug Roberts said he plans to propose the festival to the village board at its work session, which takes place Thursday at 7 p.m.

Roberts plans to ask that the board approve a resolution for a One Greenport Cultural Festival, to be held in Mitchell Park on June 4, with a rain date June 11, from noon until 6 p.m. Set-up would begin at 10 a.m., he said.

One Greenport Coalition members, he said, would coordinate with local restaurants, asking them to provide free finger foods "representing the many different ethnic backgrounds of Greenport residents."

Volunteers, he added, would coordinate free cultural and musical performances to take place on the Mitchell Park stage all afternoon. The event would also feature food trucks and family fun.

Roberts added that he will be applying for funding support from the Friends of Mitchell Park, pending village board approval of the event, to support the production of the event, including payment for the sound system and engineer.

A member of the committee is also organizing a soccer tournament for which teams may sign up individually, with games hopefully to be played at Greenport High School, pending Superintendent David Gamberg's discussion of the proposed event with his staff, Roberts said.

Gamberg, he said, would also coordinate with the Greenport High School art department to conduct a poster contest among students to design the Festival poster, which would be used to advertise the event locally. The school would also put on an art display in the area of the park east of the carousel.

"The vision of the Committee is to have a family-oriented, picnic lunch afternoon in Mitchell Park enjoying good food and good music that represents the many cultures of Greenport’s residents," Roberts said.

The event is specifically targeted to locals, and the Greenport Village Business Improvement District will be asked not to broadcast the festival via their marketing channels.

"It’s not that visitors are not welcome, but the idea is for the event to bring locals out in force," he said.

Robert will ask the village to serve as host of the event, similar to Monday Night Dances, and to cover the event under its insurance policy; that would include an in-kind contribution of staff at the marina and elsewhere to ensure the event is successful, he said.

The event will be free and there would be no sales of any kind in Mitchell Park, fully complying with the village's Mitchell Park Policy, he said.

In November, after a contentious national election, Roberts proposed the creation of an advisory council on Latino affairs comprised of both Latinos and non-Latinos, religious leaders, business owners, and residents, to make recommendations to the mayor and board about how to "encourage and increase communication immigrant and non-immigrant groups," he said.

The goal of the One Greenport Coalition is to bring the community together and provide advice and information about potential changes in immigration police and other issues.

In a shifting national landscape, fears of deportation and other issues may cause tensions, and the advisory council, he said, aims to disseminate information and "calm people down about what could be happening and what's not happening," Roberts said. "I would like to see us take an active role in listening to folks," he said.

He pointed to Southold's anti bias task force which, he said, does "a really great job".

"The One Greenport Commission," focuses on the village working together and embracing all its many residents and cultures, he said.