Dune Alpin's Out, The Airport Is In

It's party season in the Hamptons. There will be beach parties, garden parties, pool parties, dinner parties, dance parties, book parties, wedding parties, and anniversary parties, but by far the biggest parties of the season will be the benefits.

But where will the fun-loving philanthropists find themselves this summer?

In past years Dune Alpin Farm in East Hampton was the venue for two popular and very well-attended nonprofit events - Guild Hall's Taste of Summer benefit, a culinary extravaganza frequented by the younger set, and the Music Festival of the Hamptons, which was a hot ticket with the more mature crowd.

ABC Hullabaloo

But this year, following the hullabaloo over one event planned for Dune Alpin last July, the farm is off-limits for any large-scale parties. The event that sparked the ban was an ABC Home & Carpet sale, which was to have contributed $20,000 to Podell House, a shelter for teenagers in East Hampton. Millions of dollars' worth of merchandise was to be sold.

The Town of East Hampton revoked its gathering permit after local merchants complained that the sale would hurt their businesses and was more for profit than not.

The town's scrutiny of public gatherings shifted into high gear, prompting a set of written standards for reviewing permit applications. And, as the town looked closer at Dune Alpin, it discovered that highly restrictive easements placed on the property when it was subdivided more than a decade ago prohibited putting up structures there at all. Good-bye tents, good-bye parties.

Closer Review

"We're really upset to have lost the right that we always had to use those fields for community events," said Charlot Taylor, the president of the Dune Alpin Farm Property Owners Association. She recalled that the Hampton Classic Horse Show, before it moved to Bridgehampton, had been held on Dune Alpin land, with its tents, latrines, and fences, for years.

The Taste of Summer benefit and music festival were thrown into the scramble for a spot to call their own in the busy summer party season.

Competing For Venues

"In the summer it's such a competitive arena," said Linda Shapiro, an event coordinator. Around here, she said, "everything needs to be like a Broadway production. Every little thing is so important, especially the venue."

"There are 12 weeks in the season and everyone wants to have their benefit then," Ms. Shapiro said.

It appears at times that the number of parties is growing, while the causes they support are being pushed into the background.

Tracking permit applications can seem like a full-time job some days, Councilman Tom Knobel, who wrote the standards for reviewing gathering permit applications and has been in charge of the review process this year, said. Applications are so voluminous this season not only because there are more parties, but there's a greater awareness that permits are required.

"Balancing Act"

"It's a balancing act," the Councilman said of the review process, in which the town often has to determine how to categorize events. "We're asked to make a choice what is a benefit, what is a party," he said. Sometimes the lines blur.

Then, said Councilman Knobel, you have to ask, "What is the town's interest here?" The answer, he said, is to prevent activities that have a detrimental impact on neighbors, the environment, and local businesses.

Ms. Shapiro, the professional fund-raiser who applied for the permit for the ABC sale, organizes scores of other charity events, including the annual Take Off benefit for the Long Island Association for AIDS Care.

Perfect Party Spot

That's another event that, like Guild Hall's Taste of Summer, draws a younger crowd ready to dance. A must-attend for young benefit-goers, Take Off will celebrate its fifth anniversary at the East Hampton Town Airport this year.

It was the trendsetter for parties at the airport. After all, the airport has plenty of parking, few neighbors, the biggest backyard in town, and a spruced-up hangar building that can hold hundreds. Perfect spot for a party, no? Guild Hall and the Music Festival of the Hamptons think so.

With Dune Alpin a no-no, the airport seems to be one of the season's most popular locations for large-scale benefits. So much so that the town agreed this month to lift an old restriction prohibiting more than two parties a year at the airport.

Concerts At The Airport

So far Town Councilman Knobel has received four applications to hold parties at the airport and expects to get more.

The Take Off benefit will be held at the refurbished East Hampton Aire Hangar, which is leased to Ben Krupinski. The new hangar now is 10,000 square feet, and LIAAC will add a 5,000-square-foot V.I.P. tent outside.

Ms. Shapiro is also organizing a joint benefit for Podell House and the drug and alcohol rehabilitation program APPLE (A Planned Program for Life Enrichment), which will be held at the East Hampton Aire Hangar.

Joining these events are Guild Hall's Taste of Summer benefit, which has found a new home in a tent outside the East Hampton Aire hangar, and two nights of the Music Festival of the Hamptons, which will be under a tent in the no-fly zone at the airport on a Friday and a Sunday night.

Noise Concerns

"We thought about the East Hampton High School lawn, but they don't permit liquor there . . . not doable," the festival director, Eleanor Leonard, said. "We thought about the vineyards, but that wasn't possible either."

Dune Alpin, she said, "was like our home." The airport will be an adjustment.

Other music events will be held near the Hampton Classic grounds in Bridgehampton, off Snake Hollow Road. Finding these spots took a lot of time and effort.

Ms. Leonard is a little worried about the noise at the airport, something that's hardly a factor with dance-type parties like Take Off and Taste of Summer.

"When the great Lukas Foss is playing Schubert and you have a plane going overhead, it's not that great," she said. The festival, however, worked hard to find a new location this year, and she is relieved it can finally move forward.