What’s new in downtown Riverhead? BID and Chamber give update on events and initiatives

Collaboration between the Riverhead BID and the Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with other community groups and Riverhead Town departments, will bring some new events and improvements to downtown Riverhead this year.

On tap for this spring and summer — in addition to existing events like East End Arts’ street-painting festival, the Reflextions Art in the Park events, the Alive on 25 festival and the cardboard boat races—  are an outdoor job fair and blood drive, a Peconic River clean-up, and an expanded Shakespeare in the Park in Grangebel Park. Also underway are improvements to the lighting and electric hookups at the Grangebel Park stage and plans for a contest for new artwork on downtown Riverhead’s fire hydrants.

The executive directors of the Riverhead BID and the Riverhead Chamber of Commerce met with the Town Board at its work session Thursday to discuss the goings-on and ask the board’s blessing and support for the new initiatives. Board members readily agreed.

The organizations are working together on a job fair to be held in the town square on May 23, from 1 to 4 p.m. If the weather is inclement, the job fair will take place inside the Suffolk Theater. New York Blood Center will be on hand for a mobile blood drive during the job fair.

Local businesses in search of employees will be able to register for the job fair at the Chamber of Commerce website.

The BID and the Chamber, as well as the Riverhead Town Litter Committee will be partnering with Riverhead Rotary on the Rotary club’s “Peconic Preen,” a community clean-up event on Saturday, May 18, BID Executive Director Kristy Verity said. 

“Rotary is partnering with the Long Island Aquarium and paddleboard and kayak rental groups to get people in the river,” Verity said. 

The idea is to clean up the river as well as the riverbank from Grangebel Park to the aquarium property, Verity said.  

There will be vendors offering educational materials and interactive activities, she said. 

Verity also said the BID is working with an environmental artist to repaint the shipping container used by the Reflextions event. It is presently decorated with angel wings and the thought is to portray an osprey or eagles or other local inhabitants, Verity said. 

The goal is “informing people about what’s in the river and how their actions impact the landscape and the river,” she said.

The Greenport-based nonprofit Northeast Stage is looking to host its Shakespeare in the Park production of “Othello” this summer on the stage in Grangebel Park, Verity said. The BID has supported Shakespeare in the Park in prior years, when the productions were on the East End Arts campus. Northeast Stage is hoping to expand its audience with the new location and marketing help from the BID and Chamber of Commerce, Verity said.

The company has two American Sign Language interpreters to interpret the performance and also plans to present a Spanish-language version of the production.

Improvements being made by Riverhead Town to lighting and electric hook-ups at the Grangebel Park stage will make it easier to connect sound equipment and provide for a better experience, Verity said.

The recently opened School of Rock on West Main Street is also planning some events in Grangebel Park. “Reflextions has really opened the door to activating that park there in the last few years,” she said. 

“It’s nice to see people taking an interest in Grangebel Park and the more people we have in Grangebel Park helps to keep it, you know, beautiful, walkable and safe,” Verity said.

Shakespeare in the Park will take place Wednesday, July 24, she said.

The BID is working with East End Arts to hold a contest for designs and artists to repaint downtown fire hydrants. East End Arts held a contest in 2014 to have 10 downtown hydrants on Main Street, between Maple and Griffing avenues, and on Peconic Avenue decorated with artwork. The organization received 20 entries for proposed designs from artists across Long Island and selected 10. Among them were one Riverhead artist and Bob Castaldi, owner of the Suffolk Theater.  Verity said the BID is looking to have  25 downtown hydrants adorned with artwork this time around.

“We’ll be putting out a request for proposals and sketches,” Verity said.

Liz O’Shaughnessy, executive director of the Riverhead Chamber of Commerce said the collaboration among the BID, the Chamber and other groups has been very beneficial. 

“I feel like the spirit of collaboration is alive and well. It’s been a wonderful thing and it’s really moving things forward,” O’Shaughnessy told Town Board members. 

O’Shaughnessy said she’s been appointed by County Executive Ed Romaine to the county’s downtown revitalization committee and when she discusses what’s going on in Riverhead and how different local groups are working together, representatives of other downtowns are impressed. 

Verity agreed. “Riverhead is on the map,” she said. “It’s not up-and-coming anymore. We’re there.”