When I was 18 and had just moved to New York City, I’d go to “exclusive parties” in SoHo where I knew no one and would say, “I’m on the list,” though I was never on any list. Walking up to the crowd pressing in at the Bridgehampton polo grounds ticket desk Saturday, a small part of me felt I’d arrived. 

“Iris Smyles is already inside,” the publicist said, finding my name on the list, checked. 

“But I’m Iris Smyles.” 

She studied me for a long moment. “I’ll need to see some ID.”

And so my day at Polo Hamptons began.

Let loose under the tent and tagged with a pink wrist band proving my insider status, I scanned the densely packed crowd, anticipating a sea of famous faces dotted with even more famous faces — Ralph Lauren or Jerry Seinfeld maybe, or at least Iris Smyles. I wondered what she looked like in real life and whether or not I’d recognize her.

“I love your hat,” a man said, running a hand along my waist as he passed. I didn’t know what to wear and had instinctively dressed, like everyone else present, as an extra in a scene from “Sex and the City”: “Carrie Attends a Polo Match in the Hamptons.” Not recognizing anyone except the aged Rod Stewart look-alike I’d see around Manhattan 20 years ago when I was “on the scene,” and a fit 60-something in mini-dress and sky-high heels whom I momentarily mistook for Real Housewife Ramona Singer, I couldn’t help but wonder, who are all of these people?

The cooks were swapping out an empty paella tray for a full one when the man next to me said he was having a huge pool party next weekend and that I should come and do I have a card? Mid-50s with a soft build and wire-framed glasses, he didn’t. “I’m an anesthesiologist,” he said, finally introducing himself, “so we don’t really have to network. Shrimp!” he cried, as the cook unloaded a bucket into the rice.

The game was on, but few seemed to notice. A commentator narrated over loudspeakers, causing everyone in the tent to raise their voices over his. “What?” I said to the juice company start-up publicist who wanted to team up with me (me who?) or another Hamptons magazine on a special event this summer. He’d come out from Forest Hills with a few friends, hoping to spot a Real Housewife and network. “Bethenny is in Beverly Hills so we def won’t see her. I’m hoping for either Luanne or Sonja.” “We saw S.J.P. at Atlantic Beach today!” interjected his friend. “I said, ‘Be careful out there,’ and she nodded. So cool. . . .”

The tent was too small to accommodate the more than 400 standing guests, the tables under the sun were few with fewer chairs, and the bar was too crowded to warrant a wait-and-Coke — 20 minute wait, eight-ounce Coke — so I gave my demure five-inch heels a break and dropped onto a white circular sofa to plot my next move. The match had ended, though the match was largely beside the point, and the dance music was pounding.

I was still plotting when a man in white pants and checked shirt sat beside me and asked what I did. “I wish I were creative like you. I can’t make anything but money,” he said, swaying, his cup swishing a few moments behind the rest of him. He launched into his life story. “From Sri Lanka but I live in California. I have this $25 million beach house in the Hamptons, but sometimes I wake up in the morning and I wonder, like, what it’s all for. . . . I don’t even know anymore what’s real and what’s not. Trust me, between the wannabes and the wanna wannabes. . . . There’s all these people here looking to take advantage of the rich. You know, all these beautiful girls come up to me and they want to give me their phone number and hang out and they’re like, ‘Hey. . . .’ ”

“How do they know you’re rich?” 

“Trust me, they see an Indian guy at these things and assume he must be big in tech, and trust me, they want to hang out. I’m here with my business partner. We just closed a $30 million deal earlier today, but look at all these people. I don’t even know anymore who’s real and who’s not, you know,” he said, before he took off to refill his whiskey glass. 

Cigarette smoke wafted over from a man, in summer white, dancing like Larry at the Regal Beagle in front of three women standing with folded arms.

The party was hosted by the stylist-cum-designer Rachel Zoe who, like any gracious hostess, sat at a table cordoned off by ropes to keep her guests from getting at her. I didn’t actually see Ms. Zoe, but the presence of her husband, whom I recognized from their reality TV show, peaking out from a barricade of bodyguards suggested she might be nearby. 

Against the ropes, a couple in their late 20s asked me to take their photo. They’d come in just for the weekend from Queens, they told me, though they used to rent a share house every summer until the crackdown. “This guy we know ran lots of share houses. It would be like 30 of us in a house, and he’d organize dinners and meet-ups and he’d invite us to this event every year with all the other shares.”

“Thirty in one house? Where’d you sleep?”

“Well, the houses had like eight bedrooms.”

“I’ve got, like, 200,000 followers on Instagram and Twitter, so I basically know everyone,” said the former share house organizer a few minutes later. “And they’re all here. This party’s super exclusive. It used to be even more exclusive when I was running the houses. . . . Hi honey. . . . This event is full of influencers and major brands. . . . Who, me? I’m in real estate now. Just closed a major deal earlier today for $30 million. That’s my partner right there. And Bitcoin, yeah. Wall Street is trading Bitcoin now, it’s going to be so, so big. . . .”

If these conversations seem hard to follow, that’s because they were. Follow-up questions yielded no more clarity but inspired the reiteration of buzzwords and phrases like “$25 million,” “I’m in real estate,” “Bitcoin,” “major major deal.” 

It was after I told the 22-year-old in a shorts suit who claimed to be a Wall Street trader who’d just closed a major deal this afternoon involving $47 million, that I was too old for him — he replied, “I’ll bring some excitement into your life” — that I realized the success of my outfit. Spotting a shy woman alone in her polo best, he thought he’d spotted a rich fish. He was still reeling me in when I pulled out the hook and made for the open sea beyond the tent, where a slew of Porsches were on display.

A big bald man that had sweat completely through his white button-down but was still wearing his navy blue blazer and shorts was snapping a photo of a buxom woman leaning seductively against one of the cars. There was a line to do so, while a few feet away a “Porsche experience” was being raffled off. I wrote my name on a slip of paper, stuffed it in a Plexiglas box, and was told that if I won I’d be permitted to take one of the cars for a test drive around “an exclusive track.”

I walked away, worrying that the other Iris Smyles might win instead. For a moment, I imagined her glamorous life, whirling around the track with her equally glamorous friends, all of them in shorts suits closing $47 million deals.

Oh! But I forgot my gift bag and headed back into the tent, where I met a young reporter I knew from one of the other papers chatting with two handsome 20-somethings, one of them barefoot. The boys introduced themselves as employees of the Montauk Brewing Company. “We wheel the wheelbarrows,” they said, smirking, then changed their story, “We’re actually polo players; we were in the match,” then changed their story, “He’s a sailor and I own the ponies,” then changed their story, “We’re helping to take care of the ponies for the summer and living in the stables until I can get out on another crew,” said the swabbie. “A reporter? Wow! You mean you get to go to all the parties?” 

On my second exit, the big bald man stopped me in the outer field, near the exit, before the cars, and said things like “Bitcoin,” “millions,” “phenomenal party,” and “M.I.T. graduate,” when a young woman with a fake English accent drawled “Darling! Take off your jacket!” and introduced herself to both of us. “Are you from London too?” she asked after I gave my name. She looked me up and down as if we’d both shown up in the same Halloween costume and she were trying to gauge whose was the more convincing. 

“No. Why?” 

“Your accent, darling. I thought I detected a trace of the queen.” 

“That’s the other Iris,” I answered, before heading out to the field of cars where I’d parked my Hyundai on which no one was posing.

Iris Smyles is the author of the novels “Iris Has Free Time” and “Dating Tips for the Unemployed.” Read more at easthamptonstar.com/iris.

Boating while intoxicated is just as serious an offense as driving while intoxicated, and the Suffolk County Sheriff’s office, which runs a marine task force on the East End, has also reminded people this holiday week that it is no less deadly.

The sheriff’s office has teamed up with the Coast Guard in a national boating-while-intoxicated enforcement initiative called Operation Dry Water. Both agencies will be in East Hampton Town waters this summer conducting patrols. 

Already this week, one boater was arrested in Shinnecock Bay for B.W.I. Robert A. Raffaelle, 50, of Fort Lee, N.J., was found speeding a 24-foot speedboat with a 400-horsepower engine in a no-wake zone on Sunday afternoon, the sheriff’s office said. Police found an open 25-ounce bottle of vodka and an empty 24-ounce beer can near him, according to a release.

Alcohol is the leading contributing factor in recreational boating deaths and a major contributor to accidents, the sheriff’s office said. Patrols will focus on educating boaters on safe boating practices and enforcing B.W.I. laws. 

The Southampton Town fire marshal's office is investigating the cause of a fire in Bridgehampton that began in the early morning hours on Thursday. 

A fire broke out at 78 Williams Way at about 4:15 a.m., just hours after the Fourth of July holiday. The Bridgehampton Fire Department originally received a call about a gas leak at that address at 4:11 a.m. About five minutes later, personnel on the scene called in a structure fire. 

In harsh, humid conditions even at those early hours on Thursday, the Sag Harbor and Southampton Fire Departments were called to assist at the scene. The East Hampton Fire Department stood by at the Bridgehampton Firehouse in case another call came in.

Bridgehampton Fire Chief Tim Sieger did not immediately return a request for comment. A fire marshal was at the Williams Way property on Thursday around 9 a.m. He said he was still trying to determine the cause. 

The four-bedroom, two-bathroom, one-story house is listed for rent for the summer for $55,000, according to outeast.com. 

Tax records show that the house is owned by Ilse and Stephen Gould of Bridgehampton and Manhattan. 

The plethora of places that are hard to get into out here is, as they say down South, “getting on my last nerve.”

Le Bilboquet in Sag Harbor was the first of the nerve-racking “we’re gonna act like we’re an exclusive club and we may not let you in” experiences. Locked doors, guard at the entrance, and sourpuss “greeting.”

Il Mulino is friendly and good, but it’s still hard to snag a table. On the day we went, I was loitering around Marders nursery, contemplating baby hostas at 4:30 in the afternoon. “Uh-oh, I’m going to be late for dinner!” Dinner being at 5, the only time we could get in.

EMP Summer House, housed in the old Spring Close House, Laundry, Farmhouse, Moby’s location on Pantigo Road could be the hardest of all. This is the pop-up of Eleven Madison Park in New York City. It opened last summer while the city location was being renovated, to keep the staff employed. This summer it’s back. My theory is that it made such a killing out here, the owners might have thought they’d be fools not to come back. But I’ve been told that their partnership with American Express was the impetus. You must have an Amex card to make a reservation, no other cards are accepted. But cash is king for walk-ins.

So here’s how it works: You make a reservation with your Amex card. You are charged a nonrefundable fee of $50 per person. That is for the dining rooms. If you want to take your chances on dining outside at the picnic tables, you can just show up with gobs of cash. The menus are slightly different between inside and out, as well.

I don’t have an Amex card and didn’t have a chance to review EMP Summer House last year. I did sit at the bar one evening with Estia’s Little Kitchen’s chef-owner, Colin Ambrose, and we had some exceptionally memorable bits and bobs.

My recent experience at EMP Summer House began thus: My editor got us in with her card. I had heard that Amex has a partnership with BMW-USA and offers door-to-door service within a reasonable radius of the restaurant. There is no phone number listed on the website, so just a few hours before we were due I emailed their “[email protected]” to inquire about the car service and corkage fee. (I had hoped to save $ by bringing a bottle of wine.) Within minutes I heard back from Nicole Mancini, the “lead reservationist.” She would see what she could do re: car service, the corkage fee is $75. Gulp. A short while later, she wrote back again. We got a car! She signs her emails “Warmest Regards.” She is my new idol. I am going into this detailed description because this was the beginning of learning why a place like Eleven Madison Park in the city was named Number One Restaurant in the World. A huge part of earning such accolades is hospitality, and these people get that.

So we began our experience by sliding into the buttery soft, brown leather seats of a hybrid 7 Series BMW. We pretty much just played with the lumbar massage features and chatted with our driver, Guy, on the magic carpet ride from Sag Harbor to East Hampton.

As far as interiors go, the restaurant is nothing special. It is large and sprawling, with several dining areas, a lot of white with black floors and black chairs. The bar area in front is small and attractive, there is a big covered patio, and beyond that, a lot of picnic tables set out on the lawn.

We began our meal with one of the spreads (crabmeat), a flatbread (clam and bacon), lobster tempura, and snow pea salad. All of them were absolutely delicious. The crabmeat, good jumbo lump, was served on top of pale green, jalapeño yogurt, and topped with tiny diced pickled bits of radish and cucumber, paper thin rings of shallots, a sprinkling of Aleppo pepper (that’s a guess), and cilantro leaves. The bread served with it is somewhere between naan, pita, and pizza dough, but better than all three. It was chewy, brushed with olive oil, and sprinkled with sea salt. 

The flatbread is a long, paper thin, crisp and flaky base for the toppings, in this case, a scattering of clams, bacon, chili flakes, shallot rings (some pickled, some raw), and Italian flat-leaf parsley leaves. This was one of the memorable dishes I had tried last year and it was again superb. 

The lobster tempura was chunks of lobster battered in a perfect tempura, served with butter lettuce leaves with pickled French radish quarters and an exceptional chili-lime aioli. As my guest/boss bit into the rolled lettuce leaf with pickled radish, hot crisp lobster, and dab of aioli, she declared, “I’ve just had the perfect bite!” The snow pea salad is another dish I had tried last summer that made such an impression that I attempted to duplicate it the next day. Epic fail. The snow peas are cut into chiffonade (thin strips like julienne), and tossed with pancetta bacon cubes, pecorino cheese, and slivers of mint leaves. It is light, zesty, imaginative, and delicious.

For entrees we tried the roasted eggplant and beef tenderloin. I like to try vegetarian options everywhere I go. I think it reveals a lot. The eggplant dish was two small halves, beautifully caramelized (probably roasted in the wood burning oven), topped with quinoa, dabs of feta cheese, shallot rings, some mint leaves, and a drizzle of olive oil. It was excellent. 

The tenderloin was two thick slices, one topped with a crust made from bone marrow and brioche crumbs. Hubba hubba! This was served with a rich jus, some artfully arranged zucchini and summer squash, and a quenelle-shaped scoop of bright green pistachio-basil aioli. There was also a thin layer of a chimichurri-like sauce between the zucchini and squash. This was another superlative dish.

The service on the night of our visit was exceptionally good, from the smiling hostess to our waitress, Hagen. We peppered her with questions and she always knew the answer. Here is an example of the service/hospitality level at EMP Summer House. We had had a brief conversation about Chartreuse while trying to decide what to order. Our waitress disappeared and came back with not one, but two, small samples of Chartreuse for us to try. Regarding the wine list, it is worth noting that while the food is expensive, and the corkage fee exorbitant, there are quite a few very reasonable wines by the bottle on the list. Thank you for that! 

The prices at EMP Summer House are high, and some of the portions diminutive, but worth every penny. If you are a wealthy person, perhaps you think nothing of the prices. If you are not wealthy, I would say save up some cash, get yourself in early on a weeknight and you, too, can experience an amazing meal. Flatbreads, snacks and appetizers are $18 to $165 (that’s for gobs of caviar). Pastas are $32 to $34, mains are $29 to $49, a Tomahawk steak for two is $185, and desserts are $16. The patio has a simpler menu with the addition of sandwiches and small plates from $18 to $38. You can also order “large format meals to share” in advance, among them lobster boils or taco feasts. These range from $95 to $125 per person.

We tried two desserts, the blueberry cobbler and milk and honey ice cream, both perfect. The blueberry cobbler was served piping hot in a little black, cast iron Staub dish and the ricotta ice cream was served in a little matching white one. The brown sugar dough topping was crunchy and buttery, the blueberries sweet with a hint of nutmeg and cinnamon, and there was a thin bottom layer of cake to absorb the blueberry juices. The milk and honey ice cream dessert, served in a parfait glass, is another dish I have been dreaming about since tasting it last summer. The ice cream is whiter than white, silky smooth, and drizzled with a very strong, dark honey (chestnut? buckwheat? Manuka? Heck if I know.) Along with this there is a honeycomb crunch topping and little pieces of meringue. It is one of the best desserts I have had in years. The dark honey flavor comes through and the textures are splendid.

Okay, are you ready for some criticisms? Here are the only two I have, and they are easily resolved. One, while the tabletops, napkins, flatware, glasses, etc., are pristine and fine, the floors are surprisingly dirty and dusty. Like so dusty I didn’t want to put my purse down. Two, someone in the kitchen is absolutely mad for flaky sea salt, and some of the dishes had just a wee bit too much finishing salt on them. That’s all. 

There’s a reason a place like this gets named the best restaurant in the world. Is it? How would I know? But I firmly believe that besides the exquisite, imaginative, meticulously prepared food, it’s about hospitality and warmth and welcoming, about bending over backward (like our waitress did), going above and beyond (like Nicole did) to make the guest’s experience not just wonderful but memorable.

We texted our guy, Guy, when we were ready to depart. We slid back into our deluxe ride, sated and ready to play with the massage features again. There on the console were two bags of EMP Summer House granola. Just more deliciousness to take home, along with indelible memories of a marvelous meal.

On the eve of the summer solstice, called Midsummer, the veils between ours and the spirit world are thinnest, according to Shakespeare, who took pagan lore for granted when he set humans and faeries loose in an enchanted forest in his comedy “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” 

“My house cat, Lucy, disappeared the whole day and returned Friday exhausted,” whispered a newly elected Southampton Village Board member, Kimberly Allan, after I mentioned the recent solstice and its persistent witchy energy. She showed me a picture of Lucy, “short for Lucifer because she’s always making trouble,” in a chair by the pool where she found her Friday morning, passed out in front of an empty martini glass. “It was weird; she never goes out,” Kimberly said among the rose patches in the vast gardens of Joan and Bernard Carl’s Southampton estate. “Partying with the faeries most likely,” I nodded. 

Midsummer fell on Wednesday last week and in the days surrounding it, I’d been looking for clues of local pagan activity and portals to the faerie realm. I went online to read up on new-age rites and to the East Hampton Library for books on solstice rituals. I spoke to the world-renowned local astrology team Amy Zerner and Monte Farber, attended a goddess circle on Montauk’s Navy Beach, hosted by Madi Murphy and Audrey Amelie Rudolf of Sacred Space Revolution, whose website promised an evening that would be “Mystical AF,” until at last, on Saturday, I discovered a grove of druids gathered under a great white tent, set up next to the Carls’ rose gardens in celebration and support of the Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Center.

Sipping rosé in flowery tea dresses and nibbling finger foods in seersucker, the Hamptons’ druid population is so secret that they are unknown even to themselves. When asked how long they’ve been practicing druidry, most responded with a mystical, “Huh?” which I took as an opportunity to reintroduce them to their ancient forgotten ways. 

Most were not aware, for example, that the solstice had just passed or even knew what a spirit animal was. “Cat,” Nicky Hilton said, mistaking my question for do you have any pets, though it’s possible one’s pet can also qualify for the job of animal totem, believed to provide spiritual guidance in this or an “other” world.

The only wildlife hospital on the East End, the Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center is, of course, filled with spirit animals — should you find an injured bird, fox, or turtle, etc., you can consult its website for tips on how to help and bring it in for care — a few of whom were in attendance at the center’s 12th annual Get Wild! benefit on Saturday, honoring Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman and Susan McGraw Keber, an East Hampton Town trustee and children’s book author.

I met an owl called Meep, a falcon called Millenium, and another bird whose name I didn’t catch. I asked Meep who his spirit animal was and received a similarly bewildered response. He rolled his eyes and turned his head in a way that reminded me of one of my exes, then said, “Who?”

Ms. Hilton and Meep weren’t the only ones to be confused by my question, so after getting a few more dog and cat answers, I changed my line, asking Chuck Scarborough if he had been raised by animals instead of humans, which animal family would he prefer.

“I’d have to say apes as I used to love ‘Tarzan’ as a kid. I’d go to the movies every weekend in Ohio just to follow his adventures.” 

“Gorillas,” agreed Joan Carl, who co-owns with her husband, Bernard (“leopards and cheetahs”), the luxury linen firm D. Porthault, for whom my friend, the artist and jewelry designer Laura Lobdell, last year designed a champagne dog pagoda that is nicer than my dream house.

The former world champion boxer Zab Judah, who’d donated his gloves to the silent auction, said, “I’m from Brooklyn, so I was raised by wolves.” 

“Lions,” put in Zab’s friend Meda Leacock, founder of New York City’s growing IAmWondaWoman Foundation, which mentors inner city adolescent girls. She’s hoping to partner with the wildlife center on future activities, providing her girls a chance to interact with wildlife while volunteering. 

“I’ve known the answer to this question my whole life,” said the IAmWondaWoman board member Danielle Beckom, “elephants.” I nodded solemnly. She didn’t have to explain why.

The real estate developer Ken Fishel would want to be raised by lions, “obviously. ’Cause they’re kings of the jungle. It’s all about climbing the ladder.” His wife, Maria, who hails from Ecuador, took a more sensitive turn when she said, “condor,” and carefully explained how “they protect their young, put together their home, and make beautiful nests.”

Tom Van Arsdall of Inspirational Landscaping, who’s volunteered to fix up the center’s grounds, would want to live “among the fluffy,” he said at first, before he curated instead an ideal family of, “horse, beagle, mutt, and turtle.” His partner, Anthony Balducci of TOG Custom Homes, sighed, as if to say, “Again, with the horse, beagle, mutt, and turtle. . . .”

Tom Samet of Hamptons House Design would want to be raised by deer, he confessed, which struck his partner, Nathan Wold, as a practical solution to the East End’s controversial deer problem, about which the wildlife center’s founder, Virginia Frati, known as Ginnie, has spoken extensively. Instead of having hunters “cull the herd” or bring in White Buffalo Inc. to sterilize the doe, we could give them jobs, Nathan offered.

“We could start a deer day care trend and instead of sending kids to preschool, we’d send them into the forests. Maybe we could teach the deer topiary, too. People would feel more kindly to them if instead of eating their flowers they turned their hedges into dinosaurs and other cool things,” Nathan went on, as a blonde in her 60s blew by in gold solstice style necklace, saying to no one in particular, “but don’t those birds bite?” 

“Only if you get fresh,” I said, before she was off to flirt with Meep.

Excitedly, I shared with Nathan and Tom a little of what I’d learned from my weeklong pagan investigations. According to druid lore, faeries are shape-shifters and faerie women particularly often turn themselves into deer, which means we’re surrounded by them.

As I drove home through the midsummer dusk, I recalled my conversation with Monte Farber and Amy Zerner earlier in the week, how they’d told me gently, “druids tend to keep a low profile” when, frustrated, I’d complained of being unable to find any of their groves on Facebook. 

Perhaps it’s less what you see than how you see, I considered, as I reflected on my enchanted evening among the animals and roses and stopped the car short when a faerie, dashing across the road, looked into my eyes.

To read about Iris Smyles’s midweek adventures visit The Star’s website.

This article has been updated with the print version.

Perry Gershon of East Hampton was the apparent winner in New York’s First Congressional District primary election and will be the Democratic Party’s nominee to challenge Representative Lee Zeldin in the midterm election on Nov. 6. 

Unofficial results from the Suffolk  County Board of Elections on Tuesday night had Mr. Gershon ahead of Kate Browning, a former county legislator, with 7,226 votes to 6,159, or 35.5 percent to 30.3 percent. Three other candidates — Vivian Viloria-Fisher, David Pechefsky, and Elaine DiMasi — were far behind, with 16.3, 11.9, and 5.9 percent of the vote, respectively. 

The unofficial result tracks with Mr. Gershon’s assertion, made at a fund-raiser at an East Hampton residence on June 9, that his campaign’s polling indicated a two-way race between himself and Ms. Browning. On Tuesday morning, moments after he, his wife, and their two sons voted at the Emergency Services Building in East Hampton, Mr. Gershon said that his campaign had conducted three rounds of polling with the result the same each time. 

In what could be a sign of Democrats’ enthusiasm in the first federal elections since President Trump was elected, turnout was significantly higher than in 2016, when Anna Throne-Holst, the former Southampton Town supervisor, defeated David Calone in the Democratic primary election. According to yesterday’s unofficial result, 20,351 Democrats cast a vote, versus 12,641 in 2016. 

Mr. Gershon, who spent 25 years in commercial real estate lending, vastly outspent his challengers for the nomination, his advertisements ubiquitous on television and in mailings. During his campaign for the nomination, he told voters that Mr. Trump’s election was the catalyst for his candidacy. Mr. Trump is “a con man” who routinely topped a list of people lenders should avoid, Mr. Gershon often told voters during the primary campaign. He has criticized Mr. Zeldin for his support of the president. 

Mr. Gershon said on Tuesday morning that voters were most concerned with “who’s the most electable” candidate in a race against Mr. Zeldin. In a statement issued by his campaign on Tuesday night, he said that Suffolk County is “energized and ready for a change.” Mr. Zeldin and other Republicans in Congress, he charged, are “leading the effort to take away health care from millions of Americans, putting the interests of the corporate gun lobby ahead of the safety of our children, denying the existence of climate change — or worse, supporting policies that accelerate it, and raising taxes on the middle class while giving tax breaks to special interests and adding trillions to our national debt.”

In his own statement issued on Tuesday night, Mr. Zeldin revealed a likely line of attack on his challenger, referring to him as “Park Avenue Perry” five times. “Congrats to Park Avenue Perry on buying his way into a general election,” he said. “It’s amazing that the Democratic Party was so desperate that they nominated a liberal Manhattan Dem­ocrat who has never even voted here in a November election for Congress. . . . Having just changed his residency into the district from Manhattan this past year, he has more in common with radicals like [New York City Mayor] Bill de Blasio and [House minority leader] Nancy Pelosi than the residents of our congressional district.” 

“I’m very proud of what we did,” Mr. Gershon said on Tuesday morning. “Win or lose, I think we ran a positive campaign from start to finish. We got our name out, we built a team. I’ve been complimented across the board by my supporters, and Kate’s supporters, for the quality of campaign I ran. I certainly walk away with no regrets.” 

While Democrats may be energized, their chances of success in the First Congressional District on Nov. 6 are not thought to be strong. 

The Cook Political Report, an independent, nonpartisan newsletter that analyzes elections, campaigns, and political trends, puts the First Congressional District race in its “Likely Republican” column. But Democrats have scored wins in several special elections since Mr. Trump was elected president, including in what were thought to be solid Republican districts and states. 

The Democrats’ primary contest to challenge Mr. Zeldin reflected national trends: Three of the five candidates were women, and two were mounting their first campaign. Ms. Browning, a former school bus driver, and Ms. Viloria-Fisher, a former teacher, both served multiple terms in the Legislature. Ms. DiMasi spent 21 years as a physicist and project manager at Brookhaven National Laboratory. 

Mr. Pechefsky made an unsuccessful bid for City Council in 2009, running on the Green Party ticket. He was a longtime staffer for the City Council, and has worked for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Mayor’s Office of Appointments.

The First Congressional District went strongly for Trump in 2016, giving him a 12-point lead over Hillary Clinton, but in 2008 and 2012, Barack Obama carried the district.

A man arrested last month in connection with a hit-and-run accident that left a delivery driver dead in Southampton in April has been indicted, Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy D. Sini said Thursday. 

Chace Quinn, a 19-year-old from Southampton who police said is an alleged member of the Bloods street gang, was behind the wheel of a 2013 Jeep when he struck and killed the man on County Road 39, then drove away. The district attorney's office said Mr. Quinn was driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

“There is no doubt that the defendant fled because he knew he was highly intoxicated, he knew that he was high on marijuana, he knew that he was wanted by the police, and he fled to evade detection,” Mr. Sini said in a statement. “He also continued to lie about the crash by telling people that the car was damaged because he hit a deer.”

Joseph Lynn McAlla, 63, of Clifford, Pa., was making a delivery to Southampton Masonry in the early morning hours of April 5, when he got out of his truck, reportedly to open the gate, and tried to cross the street. Passersby found him dead in the roadway at about 2:30 a.m.

“This is a very serious case; there is a family who will never have their loved one come home again,” Mr. Sini said. “The District Attorney’s Office, working in collaboration with the New York State Police and Southampton Town Police, will do everything in its power to hold this defendant accountable and bring justice to the victim’s family.”

Mr. Sini said Mr. Alla sustained a traumatic amputation — his leg was severed just below his knee and thrown approximately 70 feet from where his body lay. “The victim died on the roadway as a result of being struck. The defendant did not stop and did not slow down, but rather turned his headlights off and sped away to the Shinnecock Indian Reservation, which was a short distance away.”

Mr. Quinn "evaded police for approximately two months on the reservation,” Mr. Sini said. “At no time did he come forward with regard to the crash. Police had to use some innovative tactics to both build this case and apprehend this individual, and they did exactly that.”

New York State police arrested Mr. Quinn on May 28 on Sunrise Highway at approximately 2:30 a.m., while he was trying to flee to Georgia to live with family, the D.A.'s office said. 

“This horrific incident is a reminder of how serious reckless vehicular operation can be and underscores the serious consequences of reckless driving," Southampton Town Police Chief Steven Skrynecki said in a statement. 

A grand jury indicted Mr. Quinn on four counts of aggravated vehicular homicide; manslaughter in the second degree; four counts of vehicular manslaughter in the first degree; leaving the scene of a fatal accident; tampering with physical evidence; two counts of intimidating a victim or witness in the first Degree; driving while intoxicated; driving while ability impaired by the combined influence of drugs and alcohol; aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle in the first degree; unauthorized use of a vehicle in the third degree, and circumvention of an interlock device.

He faces a maximum sentence of 12 to 36 years in prison if convicted, according to the district attorney's office.

Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho arraigned Mr. Quinn on Thursday. He was held without bail.

As East Hampton Village prepares to return the historic Dominy clock and woodworking shops to their original location on North Main Street, donations of 18th and 19th-century artifacts, including a book owned by Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. and his wife, Jean, were presented to the East Hampton Village Board on Friday. 

Robert Hefner, the village’s director of historic services, explained the plan for the shops, which were part of a Dominy family compound. The family, including Nathaniel Dominy IV, his son Nathaniel Dominy V, and his grandson Felix, were renowned for their woodworking and clock and watchmaking skills. So renowned, in fact, that an exact replica of their shops was created at the Winterthur Museum in Delaware.

 The 1791 woodworking shop and 1798 clock shop are the only Dominy buildings still in existence; the family’s house and other structures were torn down in 1946. The village anticipates that the shops, which are being held for safekeeping at Mulford Farm, will be relocated during the 2019-20 fiscal year. Mr. Hefner explained that a timber-frame house in keeping with the architecture of the time would be constructed at the site as an exhibition area. 

The donation from the mayor and his wife — a purse with a leather-bound memorandum book sewn inside — will be one of the items on exhibit. The first page of the book, which contains hand-written business records and personal information, reads: “Nathaniel Dominy, his book, 1787 East Hampton.” On a subsequent page, Mr. Dominy noted that he earned 125 pounds in 1795, 53 pounds of which was in payment for building the windmill on Gardiner’s Island. He also “wrote down the births, marriages, and deaths of his family,” Mr. Hefner said, “and a couple of succeeding generations used the book for the same purpose.”

The book was passed down to Daniel Kellogg, whose great-great-grandfather was Nathaniel Dominy VII. Mr. Hefner said Mr. Kellogg had not decided on a permanent place for his “family trea­sure” until he learned of the plans for the village’s Dominy compound. “He agreed to part with it. The mayor and his wife purchased it, and we’re very, very thankful for this donation,” he said. 

Mr. Hefner then invited Ms. Rickenbach to the podium. Being able to provide the book to the village was “extraordinary,” she said, “to actually hold this in your hand and know that this is going to be safe forever.”

Richard Barons, the former executive director of the East Hampton Historical Society, presented the next donations, which include a tall-case clock made by Felix Dominy, a slat-back chair, two candle stands, and a sailor’s duffel box made by Nathaniel V. They are a gift from Maureen McFall Cayer and her son David James Cayer in memory of Ms. Cayer’s stepmother, Kathleen Elizabeth Flannery McFall. 

“This clock is one of the most perfectly preserved tall-case clocks from the Dominy family that we’ve ever seen,” Mr. Barons said. “When I examined it, I couldn’t even find one replaced nail.” The clock, the second that Felix Dominy made, has been painstakingly documented. His father built the case, it has retained its original paint, its pewter pendulum bears Felix’s monogram, and the clock’s 10-pound weight is inscribed with the date 1817. “It also gives the exact date of when the clock was made,” Mr. Barons said, noting that it was Aug. 8, 1818.

 “I think we’re going to have a birthday party for it in a month or two because it will be having its 200th birthday.” The seaman’s chest, Mr. Barons said, has original red paint and contains a secret drawer.

Following the presentation, Ms. Cayer said that Ms. McFall, a direct descendant of the Hedges family, one of East Hampton’s founding families, would have been delighted with the donation. “She had such a love for this community.” she said. 

The third donation of the day was a $9,000 check from the landmarks committee of the Ladies Village Improvement Society. The money is earmarked for the construction of the front door of the reconstructed Dominy house, Mr. Hefner said. “The Dominy house along with the Clinton Academy were the major Georgian-style structures in East Hampton,” he said, adding that the door was likely the widest residential doorway at the time. 

Delivering the check, Mary Busch, chairwoman of the L.V.I.S.’s landmarks committee, thanked the public for supporting her organization’s mission. “We have made extensive efforts to recognize preservation and restoration in the community and that’s how we can make this gift possible,” she said. 

In other business, the village authorized a lease agreement with East Hampton Town for an intermunicipal fire substation in Northwest Woods. The mayor also announced that Michael Bouker, the deputy superintendent of public works, will present a 2018 stormwater report at the village board’s organizational meeting on July 3.

 The board also heard from Michael Zotos, an artist who would like to install some of his work on Main Street. “If you’re not going to call code enforcement on me, I’ll stick them in the ground, and leave them there for the season,” he said. The mayor, who praised Mr. Zotos’s creative talent and entrepreneurial spirit, nevertheless pointed out that there were certain protocols involved. He suggested that the artist meet with Becky Molinaro Hansen, the village administrator, and one or more of the village trustees to see if the work could be accommodated.

East Hampton

Edward Hoff told police he has been having problems with homeless people staying on his property, which extends from Springs-Fireplace Road along Floyd Street all the way to Accabonac Road. He filed a trespass report on May 30.

Six medium-size bushes were taken out of a Wagon Lane front yard between Friday at 5:30 a.m. and Saturday at 1 a.m., according to Leo Hallissey, the property owner. Whoever dug up the bushes also removed a hose that was around the plants. They were worth between $300 and $400. 

East Hampton Village

A village resident lost his 2018 East Hampton Town dump sticker one day after buying it and before he had a chance to affix it to his car. He filed a report before the town clerk’s office would issue a new sticker. 

Police helped with the dismantling and destruction of an old Remington rifle on Saturday. A Main Street resident, asking for assistance, turned the gun over to village police. 

A person who was deemed suspicious was reported to be walking on Two Mile Hollow Road and looking into yards on Saturday afternoon around 2:30. Police looked for the 6-foot-tall fellow, who was said to be wearing a white T-shirt, black jeans, hat, and backpack, to no avail. 

Montauk

An argument that started in an apartment on West Lake Drive led to one man throwing a chair at the windshield of another man’s Jeep in the parking lot there on the evening of June 11. Police said the windshield was broken in two places, a taillight was broken, and the rear hatch dented. Police wanted to arrest the man who did the throwing — and even had him in handcuffs — but the other man ultimately declined to press charges. 

A guest at the Soundview Motel apparently made off with an East Hampton Town beach pass that belongs to the motel, which he used during his stay over Memorial Day weekend. The manager contacted the guest, who claimed he left the pass on a counter in the lobby. The pass is worth $400, and the motel cannot replace it until next year. A police officer contacted the guest and was awaiting a return call. 

A 2015 BMW X1 was caught on video hitting a mailbox on Old West Lake Drive on May 27 at about 9:40 p.m., and then driving off. The black plastic mailbox was heavily damaged. 

Someone broke into Pete’s Potting Shed on South Euclid Avenue on the night of June 8. When police arrived at about 7:30 a.m. the next day, they found the glass front door had been broken and a glass window cracked. There was nothing missing or touched inside the store. The door and window will cost about $750 to replace. 

A 2012 Nissan Altima was reported stolen from the parking lot at the Montauk Yacht Club on June 12. Police were able to track down information that the car had been repossessed. 

Allen Rothman was using the bathroom in his room at the Royal Atlantic Motel when he heard the sliding glass door of the room open on Saturday around 4:50 a.m. He called out, and whoever it was left. He checked his room and found nothing missing, but called police, who searched the area, and found a large number of people walking down South Emerson Avenue after leaving the Sloppy Tuna. While police were searching, another guest at the Royal Atlantic called police about someone knocking on a room’s door. 

Sag Harbor

On Wednesday, Sebastian Ramirez reported that his bicycle was vandalized while chained outside Pierson High School. The chain was removed and the tires were deflated.

At around 4 p.m. last Thursday, a 20-foot long Privateer boat was stolen from Ship Ashore Marina. The vessel was later found near Noyac Bay Road near the west end of Clam Island County Park. Police have assigned extra patrols to the marina.

The vessel Turquoise, docked at the Sag Harbor Cove Yacht Club, leaked diesel into the water on Friday. The New York State Department of Environmental Protection responded to oversee a cleanup.

 Last Saturday at 6:28 p.m., a Long Island Avenue resident called police to report a possible overdose taking place in her bathroom. Police administered Narcan and the individual was taken to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital.

On Sunday, a neighbor reported what appeared to be a fire at 172 Redwood Road, but upon arrival the Fire Department found no flames whatsoever. The culprit? A red-and-white streamer reflecting light onto a window that gave the appearance of fire. 

Lisa Rattray of Amagansett inadvertently dropped the electronic key to her Honda Pilot down a storm drain in the parking lot of the Sag Harbor Gym on June 11. Chief Austin McGuire fished it out in no time. 

Springs

A 12-foot Carolina Perception kayak went missing from the end of Gerard Drive last Thursday or Friday. Shortly after Patricia O’Neill reported the kayak missing, it was returned to the beach. She told police she would be locking it up from now on.

Lisa M. Silk told police Saturday morning that her keys went missing from the bar at the Springs Tavern on Fort Pond Boulevard at around 2 a.m. The keys later surfaced.

Making her first bid for a seat on the East Hampton Village Board, Rose Brown was the high vote-getter in the village election on Tuesday, winning a seat on the board along with her running mate, Arthur Graham, and ousting Bruce Siska, a board member since 2011. Ms. Brown will become the second woman in history to serve on the board, joining Barbara Borsack.

Ms. Brown won 277 votes, Mr. Graham 225, and Mr. Siska got 83.

Ms. Brown, who is a member of the East Hampton Village design review board and the former chairwoman of the planning board, was born and raised in East Hampton, and she and her husband, Greg Brown, a detective sergeant in the village police force, have three children, one in high school, one in middle school, and one in elementary school.

“As a younger person raising a family in the village, I have a different perspective and a different voice that would make the board more well rounded,” she told The Star in an interview during her campaign. Ms. Brown said that she and Mr. Graham share the same determination to make the downtown more dynamic by allowing for more food shops and restaurants to flourish. “Everyone agrees that would bring more people into the village,” she said. She also promised to prioritize protecting water quality, and cleaning up both Herrick Park and the mess created by the stacks of free magazines that accumulate in front of stores during the summer.

First elected to the board last June in a race to fill out the final year of the late Elbert Edwards's term, Mr. Graham, who is known as Tiger, positioned himself in this election as an “activist who wants to take on new stuff.” Identifying the need for a sewage treatment plant as the key to addressing many of the village's challenges -- including protecting water quality, revitalizing the commercial core, and creating work force housing -- Mr. Graham promised to lead an effort "come hell or high water" to build the plant. He also embraced the idea of devising a new comprehensive plan for the village.

Mr. Siska, who was appointed deputy mayor in 2016, has been involved in village government for 24 years. Before joining the village board he was first a member of the planning board and then served on the zoning board of appeals. 

Being a board member appealed to him, he said during the campaign, because "you do the job that's in front of you, there's no politics, which is really nice. I just want to go in and do the job." He cited the village's actions to protect the health of Town Pond and Hook Pond as noteworthy accomplishments during his tenure. He also prided himself on protecting the quality of life of village residents. As for his years in public service, he said, "I've enjoyed every minute of it."