Letters

The Hampton Bays Chamber of Commerce held its Duckie Race Day on September 9. Beautiful weather, and a wonderful group of volunteers, donors and “duck owners” created a memorable event.

Thank you to chamber members Christine Taylor, Maria Hults, Janice Landis, Sean Deery, Kelli Lanino, Rich Sciascia, Brian Pellone and Geraldine Spinella.

A big thank you to Quogue Wildlife Refuge, which brought its owl and tortoise. Nadia was the educator, and she had Loretta as her volunteer.

A gold star thank you to sponsor Canoe Place Inn by Rechler Equity.

O’Shea Funeral Home offered vital support for our Year of Fine Dining Raffle, joining the restaurants that generously donated the grand prize: La Parmigiana, Scotto’s, Sundays on the Bay, Oakland’s, Canal Cafe, Centro, Digger’s Ales & Eats, Farm Country Kitchen, Out of the Blue, Buckley’s Inn Between, New Moon Cafe, and the Rooted Group, which offered a choice of Cowfish, Rumba, Rhum, Flora or Fauna.

A big thank you to East End Bait and Tackle, which not only entered a duck in the race but donated a gift certificate and all the weights for ballast.

Sincere thanks to contributors to the silent auction: Angel Tips, Herbert & Rist, Jundea Salon, Bar Boy, Blue. Tiger International, E Day Spa, Epic Spa & Nails, The Local Bike Shop, Cowfish, One North Steak House, Edgewater, BOA Thai Fusion, Southampton Public House, Lighthouse Seafood, Good Ground Antiques, Hampton Auto Wash, Hampton Nursery, King Kullen, La Carezza, Fowler`s Garden Center, Hampton Maid, Edward Archer, Salon East, Rumba, Skidmore Sports & Styles, Mario’s Barber Shop, James Maguire Antiques, Hampton Gyro, Hampton Bays Bagels, Matsulin, Villa Paul, Stop & Shop, Fandango, Good Ground Cleaners, Briermere Farms, Tweeds, Fins & Forks, KL Wealth Strategies Riverhead Building Supply, Sandy Pond Gold Course, Seven Eleven, Shell Oil (Strong Oil Company), Shippy’s, Sunrise to Sunset Flying Point, The Golden Pear, and The Hampton Theatre Company. Many thanks to Eleanor Hyland and Anne Liebowitz for running the silent auction. A thank you to Dan Bove for event photography.

Ocean racing ducks require special ballast; thank you to J.J. (Johnathan Lorber) for race prep. Thank you, owners/trainers, and fabulous decorators. Weber and Grahn’s duck was voted first-place winner in the decorated duck contest. Bella Taylor took second place, and John Slavin won third place.

Duckie Race winners: win, Dr. Christopher Bickford; place, Mary Zoumas; show, John Leonard.

And a special thank you to the “starting gate” Rumba Launch crew, the Hampton Bays High School volunteers and Captain Bob, and the duckie wranglers, Johnathan Lorber, Alexa Foudy, Mary Garcia and Sean Deery.

A particular thank you to Jorie Cohen, Amberly Ferrante and the staff at Cowfish for the perfect venue and exceptional service.

Maria Hults

Event Chair

Hampton Bays Chamber of Commerce