Curtain Raised on Sag Harbor's Steinbeck Waterfront Park

Hundreds of people converged on John Steinbeck Waterfront Park on Thursday morning, May 25, to mark its official opening in a ceremony presided over by Mayor Jim Larocca.

The mayor, who made the completion of the park a priority of his administration, said the acquisition of the land and its transformation into Sag Harbor’s newest green space was due to the efforts of many people.

“It is said success has a thousand parents,” he said, “but it is also true, in a small village, that is probably about the right number, because everybody who has worked with us over this period of time has had a hand in this outcome.”

The ceremony, on a bright and clear day, began with the raising of the American and village flags on a newly installed flagpole by members of Boy Scout Troop 455. The Sag Harbor Elementary School choir sang “The Star Spangled Banner.” Later, the duo of Brad Beyer and Dan Koontz performed “This Land Is Your Land.”

Larocca cited the efforts of everyone from Bruce Tait, who originally called for a promenade along Sag Harbor’s waterfront, to Molly Dougenis, who used to stand near the property with a poster that stated, “Make It a Park.”

He added that numerous elected officials who have come and gone, from mayors Brian Gilbride, Sandra Schroeder and Kathleen Mulcahy, to several village trustees, two Southampton Town supervisors and several Town Board members, all had helped advance the park.

But the mayor saved special praise for the landscape architect Ed Hollander, who not only donated the design work but made the largest financial donation to the project.

Hollander also solicited donations large and small from various landscaping firms to provide much of the material and labor needed to turn the 1.25-acre parcel from the site of two derelict buildings and debris into a rolling lawn with rain gardens, newly planted oak trees, and a small amphitheater, which came in handy for members of the audience, as Larocca and other officials spoke from a waterfront deck.

“He has given more to this project than many of us put together,” Larocca said of Hollander.

“Of all the things I’ve ever done professionally, this may be my favorite,” Hollander said. “And all I can say is it was a pleasure and an honor for me to be able to be part of this and create this space for everybody in the Village of Sag Harbor.”

Hollander said what was opened to the public was just the first phase of a continued development of the property and linking it to Long Wharf by way of a walkway under the Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter Veterans Memorial Bridge and along Windmill Beach.

Acknowledging Sag Harbor’s reputation for having an opinionated population, Hollander said he had received plenty of comments about his design. “Most of them were positive, and most of them were helpful,” he said.

He added that after the sod was laid, the park was fenced off, and people were asked to stay off the grass to allow it to take root. “For three weeks, everybody in Sag Harbor actually did what they were asked to do,” Hollander quipped, “which is probably the greatest accomplishment ever.”

Southampton Town Councilman Tommy John Schiavoni said creating Steinbeck Park was one of the first things he worked on after being elected in 2017. He cited the passion that residents had for the village and its draw on natives and newcomers alike.

He praised State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., who was unable to attend, and former State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle, “who had the vision to give the town the ability to make such purchases” through their sponsorship of the Community Preservation Fund legislation a quarter century ago.

“It was the community that called for this park,” Schiavoni said. “This summer, when you are sitting on these benches watching the sun set over Bay Point, please know that this park, that this public space, was born out of the energy and passion of the people of Sag Harbor.”

Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman praised Larocca for his efforts. “He was like a dog with a bone when it came to this park when he was a trustee and also as mayor,” Schneiderman said.

He lamented that Thiele was unable to attend because of his work in creating the CPF and said that early on it was hard to imagine what the park would be like when the site had a pair of derelict buildings and the design was yet to be executed.

“You try to imagine it unfolding over time,” he said, “It’s really not until it’s filled with people that you get the sense of the true park. It’s just not complete without the humanity of it.”

Schneiderman alluded to the challenges Sag Harbor has been through recently. The community has been divided over Bay Street Theater’s plans, a proposed affordable housing and commercial development, and a proposal by the school district to buy property on Marsden Street, which fell short, in a recent vote.

“I wonder what Steinbeck would have written about this moment,” he said. “I just feel his voice would have recognized the humanity of the difference of opinions.

He called on village residents to share the park and “celebrate this extraordinary author who was in our midst and part of our community.”

As people arrived at the park for the dedication ceremony, a beaming Bruce Tait, the former longtime chairman of the village’s Harbor Committee, was among those in the crowd. Asked when the idea for the waterfront park was first developed, Tait shook his head. “I don’t really remember,” he said, “but I had brown hair.”