Villages

On its mission to transform an empty space in Montauk into a cultural center and community pool, representatives of the Montauk Playhouse Community Center Foundation said this week that they have revamped their plans.

Mumford & Sons, called “one of the most successful acts to come out of the 21st century’s English folk revival,” will give an invitation-only performance at the Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett on Aug. 25 to benefit USA Warrior Stories.

This year the competition has been named the Mike Diveris Battle of Southampton in honor of one of the founding fathers of the town lifeguard program, who died on June 17 at the age of 72. 

An East Hampton Town official and a representative of Concerned Citizens of Montauk both confirmed this week that they have received reports of foul odors at Ditch Plain and people experiencing skin, eye, and sinus irritation after taking a dip in the water there in the last two to three weeks.

The National Parks Service, the federal agency that oversees the preservation of historic structures and districts, last week added the Sag Harbor communities of Sag Harbor Hills, Azurest, and Ninevah Subdivisions (known as SANS) to the National Register of Historic Places.

The 15th annual Soldier Ride the Hamptons will return to the South Fork on Saturday with a community bike ride to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project. Riders will bike alongside wounded veterans on a 25.6-mile route that starts and finishes at Amagansett Farm and passed through Amagansett and East Hampton Village on the way to Sag Harbor.

A whale that was entangled in fishing net in the waters off Town Line Beach in Sagaponack has freed itself, Southampton Town police said Monday evening. 

Item of the Week From the East Hampton Library Long Island Collection

The Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation will honor Ms. Bertello, the owner of the Baker House 1650, at its Hamptons Happening fund-raiser Saturday night in Bridgehampton.

The structures at 81 Ocean Avenue in East Hampton Village, a one-acre parcel bordering Hook Pond and the Main Beach parking lot, are being demolished this week before East Hampton Town buys the property for $4.8 million.

Monday night’s meeting of the Amagansett Citizens Advisory Committee was almost entirely taken up by PowerPoint presentations on Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind’s proposed South Fork wind farm. 

Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. formally announced his resignation as East Hampton Village Mayor at the village board’s organizational meeting on July 3. His resignation will take effect on Dec. 31, more than six months before his term is to expire.

The East Hampton Town Board voted on July 2 to give the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Army Corps of Engineers a temporary access easement near the Montauk Lighthouse so that an extensive reconstruction of the roughly 1,000-foot-long rock revetment that wraps around the Point can proceed. 

Ethel Henn, the treasurer of the Springs Historical Society, was at her desk in the Springs Library last week, opening the mail and chatting with a visitor, when she suddenly gasped and exclaimed in delight. From an envelope postmarked Henderson, Nev., she had just withdrawn a check for $200, with “For the Springs Library” on the memo line.

Chalking tires to know when a vehicle has overstayed its allotted time in a parking spot is a legal and ongoing method of local law enforcement, East Hampton Village Chief of Police Michael Tracey said last Thursday. 

Confusion about whether municipalities can lawfully mark tires has been widespread since April, when a federal appeals court ruled that Alison Taylor of Saginaw, Mich., who had received 15 parking tickets there after having had her tires chalked‚ could sue the city for violating her Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches. 

Mr. Grimes will be honored Sunday evening as the Fishing Legend of the Year at the 19th annual Montauk Mercury Grand Slam fishing tournament in recognition of his many decades of involvement and volunteerism in the community.

In a lecture called “1969: The Year That Pointed the Way” on Monday at 5:30 p.m. at the Rogers Memorial Library, Clive Young, an author, will explore the moon landing, Woodstock, the distinctive music of the time, and fashion trends.

At the Beach

The Jewish Center of the Hamptons will host Shabbat on the Beach tomorrow at 6 p.m., with music, a bonfire, s’mores, and more. Shabbat on the Beach will take place at 6 each Friday for the rest of the summer.

East Hampton Village Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr., who has held the office since 1992, said last week that he would resign as of Dec. 31, more than six months before his term is up. He planned to make an official announcement at the village board’s organizational meeting on Wednesday.

“This decision comes after much soul-searching and contemplation,” Mayor Rickenbach said. “It has been a humbling experience to serve as a public official to a wonderful, caring, and sophisticated constituency.”

Barbara Borsack, a member of the East Hampton Village Board who is running for village mayor in 2020, held a kickoff party for her campaign on Sunday at the home of Ina Garten, the celebrity chef and cookbook author.

It’s been an unusual season for the normally reliable bluefish this year. Catches were scarce in many locales the past two months, and the fish showed up only a week or so ago in Noyac Bay. Usually they could be found as early as the first week of May in this area.

The low trestles crossing North Main Street and Accabonac Road in East Hampton Village, infamous for being struck by trucks, will be raised from 11 to 14 feet when new bridges are installed this fall, the Long Island Rail Road said.

Residents and business owners weigh­ed in Friday on a proposed East Hampton Village law that would prohibit professional landscapers from using gas-powered leaf blowers from June 1 to Labor Day. The proposed ban includes a provision allowing their use for cleanup after a major storm, or when responding to an emergency.

Jerry Larsen, a former East Hampton Village police chief who is running for village mayor in 2020, on Sunday introduced his running mate, Sandra Melendez, an attorney who is seeking to be the first Latina to serve on the village board.

Kathleen Mulcahy, who will be sworn in as the new mayor of Sag Harbor Village on Monday, discussed plans for her first months in office, including increasing public participation in government, establishing a new environmental committee, and finding the money to create a village administrator position.

Ms. Mulcahy pulled off a major upset in the June 18 election when she defeated Sandra Schroeder, the two-term incumbent, with 489 votes to Ms. Schroeder’s 197.

East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc announced on Tuesday that PSEG Long Island will abandon a proposed site in Montauk's Hither Woods and build a new electrical substation on a Long Island Power Authority-owned parcel on Shore Road, near the site of the present facility.

A Thursday night salon series at the Jewish Center of the Hamptons will kick off next week with a discussion between Michael Musto and Rabbi Lyle Rothman.

Wonder no more about the mysterious painted records popping up in public spaces and on utility poles from Southampton to Montauk.

It’s the work of Brandon Hernandez, who goes by the moniker Think, and whose street art began as an obsession with sound.

The East Hampton artist studied audio production at a Board of Cooperative Educational Services program, graduating from high school in 2016. Mr. Hernandez recalled one particular class in which his teacher first played digitally recorded music for the students, then switched to music on vinyl.

East Hampton’s beaches and bucolic atmosphere have drawn many visitors since before the 1870s, but a typical day at the beach has changed a lot in the last 150 years.

Almost three years after promising East Hampton Town officials they would tackle overcrowding, excessive noise, and environmental concerns at the Surf Lodge in Montauk, the owners have launched a full-scale effort to address the problems.