Five-day carnival proposed for Veterans Memorial Park in Calverton this summer

A five-day carnival could come to Calverton this summer — and possibly many summers to come — if Riverhead Town gives it the green light.

Dreamland Amusements is proposing to stage the carnival from June 25-29 on an unused grassland, between Middle Country Road and Peconic Ice Rinks, at Veterans Memorial Park. The Stony Brook-based company produces several events on Long Island and other locations on the east coast, including the Bald Hill Fair in Farmingville and the Long Island Fun Fest in Brentwood.

“We are strictly a family event — that’s just what we want. We want families to make memories,” Dreamland Amusement Manager Jaclyn Shoup told the Town Board at its work session Thursday.

“We have rides for 2-year-olds, all the way up to people who want to puke,” she added.

Dreamland Amusements was brought to the board by Victor Prusinowski, a business consultant and vice chairman of the Riverhead Republican Committee. The company was looking for a location out east and he thought the park was “a perfect location,” he said. 

Town officials expressed support for the proposal. “I would be interested in looking to see this go forward,” Supervisor Tim Hubbard said.

This year’s carnival would run for five days, but Shoup said the company hopes to expand it into an annual 10-day event if it proves successful. “Right now, we’re testing it out, seeing how the community likes it,” she said.

Recreation Superintendent Raymond Coyne, whose department oversees the Calverton park, said he’s “amenable to having it there” as long as it doesn’t create problems for residents at the park.

“My only concern, which I’ve expressed, is just the parking and logistics of the parking,” Coyne said. “But we can work something out.”

Visitors attending the carnival would park on part of the grasslands, Shoup said. The plan Shoup presented to the board shows parking areas in the town’s parking lot and on land south of the carnival grounds. 

The company will need an agreement with the town to use the land and a special event permit to hold the event, officials said. There was no discussion about how much the company would pay the town to use the land. “The only thing we want the town to do here is enjoy and make money and not have to worry about any costs,” Prusinowski said.

The carnival will also need a potable water source; the company can tap into fire hydrants on Middle Country Road at a per-day rate set by the Riverhead Water District, Assistant Recreation Program Coordinator Ashley Schandel told the Town Board.

The event draws a “maximum of 1,500 people for a day,” Shoup said. She said staff has stopped entry into the carnival before if crowds get too big to manage. The company hires its own security and parking attendants, and has paid for police at the event before, Shoup said. 

“I know the property has to be mowed, and that’s something that we can talk about, as well,” she said. 

Dreamland Amusements would move in starting June 23 and be off the property by June 30, Shoup said.

Riverhead Town’s plans for Veterans Memorial Park include installing athletic fields on the grasslands, but board members have prioritized other park projects with public funds. At least one developer has proposed building indoor athletic facilities at the town park and donating those athletic fields to the town; that plan was first presented to the board in October 2022 and not moved forward.

Town officials said the event could help draw more people to Veterans Memorial Park and to Peconic Ice Rinks.