Famous Brooklyn Food Expo Looking To Come To Westhampton Beach

A local restaurateur is hoping to bring Smorgasburg, a wildly popular weekly food expo in Brooklyn, to Westhampton Beach this summer, a move that she says will bring in countless tourists to boost the local economy.

At a Westhampton Beach Village Board meeting on Wednesday night, Lorraine Girard, the owner of the Buoy One seafood restaurant on Montauk Highway, presented the plan to bring the Williamsburg-based food market to Glovers Lane in the village this summer, saying she already has the support of the Smorgasburg organization.

“This would lead to increased foot traffic in the village, which would lead to increased sales throughout the village,” Ms. Girard told the board. “I own a restaurant outside of the village, and people don’t see Westhampton as a culinary destination—which I don’t agree with. I think there are wonderful things here and all I ever hear are people clamoring to bring more stuff here, and this would answer that while giving us a reputation as a world class culinary destination.”

According to its website, Smorgasburg.com, the event launched in May 2011 as a spin-off of Brooklyn Flea, a popular flea market in the area. The event is held every Saturday and Sunday from April through November, at which 100 food vendors display their wares for sale to the roughly 10,000 visitors.

Representatives from Smorgasburg did not respond to a request for comment this week.

If approved in the village, the event would be considerably scaled back from the Brooklyn version, with only 35 vendors. The expo would take place every Friday from June 24 through September 2 on Glovers Lane in the parking lot owned by the Chamber of Commerce. According to Ms. Girard, 30 of the vendors would be from the flagship Brooklyn market, and would make the trip every week. The remaining five slots would be set aside for local businesses, including breweries and wineries.

Last week, board members seemed interested in the idea, saying they liked the idea of having something for people to do after work hours on Fridays, noting the expo would run from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

“Most people get off of work at 5 or 6 o’clock and there is nothing to do,” Trustee Ralph Urban said. “It does open up evening hours when we get people after 8 p.m. They can walk Main Street and the shops.”

Mayor Maria Moore said the board would consider the plan, noting that it could be a good way to draw people to the village.

The next village meeting is scheduled for Thursday, May 5, at 7 p.m. at Village Hall.