Grind

Our Fabulous Variety Show's first Kids Night Out is Friday, giving school-aged children a chance to have fun while parents and guardians "get a night off" themselves.

The Church, an arts center on Madison Street in Sag Harbor, will have a cocktail reception, chaired by Elisa Rojas Ross, an Emmy Award-winning journalist, to benefit Organizacion Latino Americana of Eastern Long Island on Thursday night from 5 to 7.

It’s time for the South Fork Natural History Museum’s annual panel discussion and question-and-answer session with its Shark Research and Education Team.

Saturday brings the Clamshell Foundation's 32nd annual Sandcastle Contest, a two-mile-plus walk at Lazy Point including a post-walk tour of the D’Amico Studio and Archives, and the Amagansett Village Improvement Society's annual Summer Splash party at the South Fork Country Club.

Saturday is the East Hampton Library’s Author’s Night, but on Sunday, the kids get their turn with the library's annual Children’s Fair.

As more than 24,000 trees have been removed because of an infestation of Asian longhorned beetles, the United States Department of Agriculture is urging Long Island residents to check their trees for the insect.

It's time again for the Antigua Barbuda Hamptons Challenge Regatta, an amateur sailing race in Noyac Bay, and a day of Caribbean-themed fun in Sag Harbor, planned for Saturday.

The Hamptons Dog Show, hosted by the East Hampton Lions Club at the American Legion Hall in Amagansett, returns Saturday for its fifth year to raise money for the Guide Dog Foundation of Long Island.

Lighthouse Weekend will be celebrated at the Montauk Lighthouse on Saturday and Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., with re-enactors from the Third New York Regiment and the Kings of the Coast Pirates helping to bring the past to life.

After a four-year hiatus, Heart of Springs, a benefit for Ashawagh Hall, the Springs Library, and the Springs Presbyterian Church, will take place on Sunday from 5 to 7:30 p.m. under a tent on the lawn at Ashawagh Hall.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone announced Thursday that this year’s Down Payment Assistance Program is now open for applications. The program allows first-time homebuyers $30,000 to purchase a single family home with the agreement that the buyer will live there for at least 10 years.

A “bracket bash” party is to be held Friday evening from 6 to 9 at the Clubhouse in Wainscott to work out a schedule for the double-elimination Travis Field memorial coed softball tournament that will be contested by 17 teams and is to begin Thursday afternoon at the Terry King ball field in Amagansett.