New Scoville and Fair Near
The Amagansett Presbyterian Church will hold its 103rd summer fair on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the church grounds. Children’s games, pony rides, a raffle, a bouncy castle, and a petting zoo will be offered, as will baked goods, homemade crafts, produce, plants, and refreshments. A magic show happens at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. The rain date is Sunday.
Part of the fair’s appeal, the Rev. Steven Howarth said, is that “it doesn’t change much from year to year,” with the exception of more, and more exceptional, raffle prizes. “I think we’ve got somewhere around 170 prizes,” he said last week. But the continuity of the annual event, he said, is in its children’s activities, craft items, and refreshments.
As the summer fair nears, so too does the opening of the rebuilt Scoville Hall, across Meeting House Lane from the church. The reconstruction, after the hall was destroyed by fire in 2011, is nearly complete, Mr. Howarth said, with the East Hampton Town Building Department having approved a certificate of occupancy.
“We are now close to opening,” he said. “There’s just a little work to do,” including installation of kitchen cabinets. “We’re really pleased we’re at this point.”
Groups that relied upon the hall as a place to meet are also pleased to see its imminent availability. They include groups for those struggling with alcohol and substance abuse, a Masonic lodge, and a congregation of the Church of the Nazarene. “We’ve had quite a number of folks expressing interest in utilizing the kitchen,” Mr. Howarth added.
For Scoville Hall, named in 1973 for the Rev. Clarence Beecher Scoville, who led the congregation from 1919 to 1943, the road back has been long and winding. More than 18 months after the Oct. 15, 2011, fire that destroyed the building, its charred husk continued to stand, to the annoyance of many residents of the quiet, picturesque lane. Church officials and Peerless Insurance were at odds over a settlement, which the former deemed very low.
“Honestly, it doesn’t feel right to the community,” Mr. Howarth said in 2013. “We don’t want to leave a lot of money in the insurance company’s pocket, and we don’t want to put up a modular piece that doesn’t fit the nature of the community. We want this to last a few centuries.” A sticking point in the dispute concerned the building’s foundation, the insurer contending that it should remain and a new structure be built upon it.
It was finally demolished, later in 2013, following the intervention of Barry Slotnick, an attorney who has represented high-profile clients including Bernhard Goetz, Anthony Quinn, Joseph Colombo, and Mario Biaggi, a former congressman. “I was very offended by the fact that I saw this burned-out building sitting on Meeting House Lane without anyone doing anything,” Mr. Slotnick, who owns a house on the lane, told The Star in 2013. “I took one look and said this is the folly of the insurance company — they’re going to keep everyone strung out.”
He offered his assistance to Mr. Howarth, who accepted. “We got in touch with the insurance company,” the lawyer said. “We told them unless and until there’s a resolution, we would do a $100 million lawsuit. They realized we were not kidding.”
Approximately $75,000 is still needed to fund the reconstruction, Mr. Howarth said. Donations can be made by check to the Scoville Hall Rebuilding Fund, P.O. Box 764, Amagansett 11930, and at amagansettpresbyterian.org/give.