Maritime Festival Opening Reception Spotlights 'Land and Sea'

The 24th annual Greenport Maritime Festival kicked off to a crowd Friday night.

Hundreds attended a "Land and Sea" reception, featuring "A Taste of Greenport," including dishes by local chefs and an array of local wines, held to mark the opening of the festival at the East End Seaport Museum Friday night.

Guests mingled outside by the harbor and enjoyed fare donated from a full array of area eateries, including crab stuffed deviled eggs, oysters clams, shrimp, stuffed mushrooms, baked clams, sushi, blini and other delicacies.

John Corr performed selections of nautical and maritime music, along with traditional Irish pub songs, as the crowd enjoyed local wines and beer.

Elected officials including Suffolk County Legislator Al Krupski and Greenport Village Mayor David Nyce, were present at the well-attended event.

The Maritime Festival, Nyce said, "is always special. It's a great community event."

This year, there was a real interaction between the business district and the museum, Nyce said, to create a "full community festival — a family festival," adding that he was hoping for good weather.

But rain or shine, he said, the event will be "a great deal of fun." Nyce thanked the volunteers for their hard work and effort.

The Maritime Festival, Krupski said, illustrates how important Greenport has been to the history of the area — and how critical the village is to shaping the North Fork's future.

"It's such a great economic engine," he said. He thanked organizers for working hard to move forward while still maintaining true to the village's history and values, and "to keep Greenport, Greenport."

A Chinese auction and 50/50 were also part of the evening's festivities.