Fireworks, Floats, And The Hulburt Flag
Fireworks will illuminate East Hampton skies above Main Beach in the village and in the vicinity of the Devon Yacht Club in Amagansett Saturday night. The rain date for both shows is Sunday night.
Bay Fireworks will present the Main Beach show beginning at about 9 p.m. The East Hampton display is sponsored annually by the Fire Department, which has appealed to residents for donations for the costly endeavor.
The Grucci family will begin shooting off fireworks for the Devon Yacht Club in Amagansett at about the same time. The club's fireworks, although paid for privately, are viewable from public beaches around Gardiner's Bay and from boats anchored there. Among the nautical contingent will be members of the East Hampton Power Squadron, who will raft up together to watch the show.
No Cars
No vehicles will be allowed on the bay beaches between the northerly side of Barnes Hole Road and the Devon Yacht Club from 5 to 11 p.m. that night, however. A stretch of ocean beach also is being closed to vehicles by East Hampton Village until the morning after the Main Beach fireworks, as reported on page one.
A third fireworks display Saturday night will be over Shelter Island's Crescent Beach. The rain date is scheduled for July 12. Several hundred boats usually gather in the surrounding waters to catch the show.
July 12 is also the date for Montauk's annual pyrotechnic celebration, which will begin once the sky darkens over Gin Beach.
Boys Harbor Date
The annual benefit picnic and fireworks show at the Harbor for Girls and Boys in East Hampton will come later, on July 19. Three Mile Harbor is usually filled to capacity with visiting boats for this event, and again the East Hampton Power Squadron will raft up, this time for an overnight stay.
Farther afield, fireworks will light up the skies tonight above the North Sea Fire Department's carnival at the fairgrounds on Noyac Road. The carnival will continue through Saturday, with rides opening at 7 each night.
Meanwhile, the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons has issued a reminder that dogs and fireworks do not mix. Because canine hearing is extremely sensitive, ARF warned this week, dogs are easily frightened. ARF said it received more reports of lost dogs over the Fourth of July weekend than at any other time of the year.
Annual Parade
Last, but not least, the holiday will be marked tomorrow at 10 a.m. in Southampton with the annual parade by the Combined Veterans Organizations. The parade will step off from the railroad plaza and will be followed by refreshments and music at Agawam Park.
The Fourth also is being observed by the Town of Southampton with an exhibit of a replica of the Hulburt flag in the meeting room on the second floor of Town Hall.
The Hulburt Flag was carried to Fort Ticonderoga by Capt. John Hulburt's eastern Long Island troops in 1775 and is believed by historians to have inspired the American flag. The Betsy Ross flag is identical to the Hulburt flag, except that the blue field is slightly larger on the former and that the Hulburt flag's stars have six points.
It can be seen during Town Hall hours through July 11.