Grind

New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. this week announced he is seeking nominations from local high schools for the Presidential Scholars program, which has recognized outstanding students since 1964 when then-President Lyndon Johnson created the program. The state is also seeking nominations of students who excel in career and technical education for an additional award.

The nonprofit organization I-Tri, which fosters empowerment, self-esteem, and healthful lifestyle choices among teen and pre-teen girls on the East End, is planning a bicycle ride with an optional lunch and wine tasting as a fund-raiser on Oct. 10.

For dog owners on the South Fork, the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons Stroll to the Sea is usually among the most anticipated events of Columbus Day weekend, but this year, like so many other things, the popular fund-raising event will go virtual.

The Young Adult Ministry at the First Baptist Church of Bridgehampton will hold a voter registration drive on Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. at the Bridgehampton Child Care and Recreational Center. 

Anyone who wants to vote in the upcoming general election is welcome to wear a mask and observe social distancing at 551 Sag Harbor Turnpike in Bridgehampton in order to complete the registration process.

Southampton Town's Great East End Clean-Up will take place on Saturday and Sunday, having been rescheduled from the spring because of Covid-19.

The East Hampton Library wants teens in grades nine through 12 to make the best of a beautiful season with its Fall Bucket List Challenge.

Here's how it works: capture memorable moments from the library's list in selfies and email them to the young adult librarians. That's it! 

The bucket list includes pumpkin picking, carving a jack o'lantern, hiking, watching a scary movie, navigating a corn maze, and other fun fall activities.

The email address for submissions is [email protected].

High tides may be responsible for elevated bacteria levels in multiple East Hampton Town waterways, according to data compiled by Concerned Citizens of Montauk. 

CCOM also reported this week that a bloom of toxic cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, has dissipated in Montauk’s Fort Pond, but that compromised water body remains at high risk for a harmful algal bloom due to elevated cell concentrations. 

The Police Departments of Southampton Town and Quogue Village will offer free car seat safety checks at Kmart in Bridgehampton on Saturday.

High school students on the East End are invited to join the Retreat's eight-week Teen Leaders program, which starts Wednesday and runs through Nov. 18.

Before the start of the school year, the Sagaponack organization Supplies for Success announced it had donated 20,000 backpacks filled with new school supplies to local children whose families cannot afford them.

Since Mindy Richardson established the organization in 2002, Supplies for Success has helped 135,000 underserved local children. And since March 5, 2020, when Ms. Richardson's son Eric died in a ski accident, the organization has responded to the pandemic in his honor. 

For National Voter Registration Day on Tuesday, the League of Women Voters of the Hamptons, Shelter Island, and North Fork will be providing voter information at tables set up across the East End. 

A candlelight vigil will be held Saturday to honor Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the U.S. Supreme Court justice and feminist icon who died Friday of metastatic pancreatic cancer at the age of 87.

The Montauk Library has announced that it has a new Print Budii photo printer kiosk available for library patrons and other guests that will print 4x6 color photos from their computers, laptops, iPads, tablets, or phones.

The process is easy, and can be done anywhere. Go to LibraryPhotoLab.com, select Montauk Library as your location, and follow the prompts. A pin number will be given when you arrive and photos can be printed immediately.

The cost is 50 cents and payment is through the website. 

A coalition of community members and immigrants’ rights organizations will drive across Long Island on Thursday to encourage residents to complete their Census forms. The East End continues to have some of the lowest Census response rates in New York State.

The Accabonac Protection Committee will host its next online forum, featuring Christopher Gobler, an expert in water contaminants, and Alison Branco, who specializes in sea level rise, on Tuesday at 6 p.m. 

Dr. Gobler will discuss how nutrients like nitrogen, as well as abundant contaminants, “are entering both our underwater aquifer system, from which our drinking water is drawn, as well as our surface water bodies, including Accabonac Harbor,” according to the committee.

New York State's school Covid-19 reporting system is now online. The publicly accessible website allows visitors to look up school districts by name or address.

The system can be accessed at schoolcovidreportcard.health.ny.gov. As of Monday morning, none of the South Fork school districts, from Bridgehampton and Sag Harbor through Montauk, had any cases to report.

A group of local students will be raising money this weekend to help fund the education of young women in disadvantaged communities.

The fund-raiser, hosted by the Young Environmentalists Society (YES!), will take place on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in front of the Sag Harbor Cinema on 90 Main Street.

The Hamptons International Film Festival's closing night film this year will be "One Night in Miami." Directed by the actress Regina King, it is based on a play of the same name about the gathering of four giants of sports, music, and activism on the night of a major boxing upset in 1964.

An Insider's View, house tours organized by the Southampton History Museum, will instead this year be called An Outsider's View, with in-person tours of several gardens and landscapes set for Saturday, weather permitting.

From 1 to 4 p.m., there will be tours starting at the Halsey House at 249 South Main Street, followed by an outdoor champagne reception from 4 to 5:30 at the Port of Missing Men. Covid-19 safety protocols will be in place, and there will be no rain date. Tickets are nonrefundable and cost $150 in advance or $175 the day of the event.

Two local firefighters' organizations plan to remember the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, on Friday.

One sample collected in East Hampton Town sometime between Aug. 25 and Aug. 27 tested positive, according to an announcement Friday from the Suffolk County Department of Health Services.

Sylvester Manor on Shelter Island has more than 70 Red Star hens who are “going into retirement” -- meaning they are starting to age past their egg-laying prime -- and need good homes.

The organization said Tuesday it is selling the hens, who are between two and three years old, for $5 each. People who are interested should take their own crates to pick them up in.

Haunted houses, corn mazes, and apples, oh my!

New state guidelines announced earlier this week mean that beloved fall activities including corn mazes, apple and pumpkin picking, and haunted houses will be able to open for New Yorkers to enjoy as early as Saturday. 

"The new guidance announced today will ensure that these businesses can open to the public, allowing families to enjoy their favorite fall activities while providing a boost for our farming communities and local economies," Gov. Cuomo said in a release on Tuesday.

Dr. Gail Schonfeld of East End Pediatrics in East Hampton shared some advice for keeping East End kids and families healthy.

The Wainscott Sewing Society announced this week that the fourth edition of "Wainscott Dumplings," a collection of stories about the people and events that make up the hamlet's history, has been released.

Some beaches in East Hampton Town and Village are staying open a little longer this year.

In Springs, the Leiber Collection will host a talk and tour of "The Garden of Friends" exhibition on Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m., and the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center will conclude its Zoom lecture series with "Another Desert Laboratory," about Georgia O'Keeffe's house in Abiquiu, N.M., that day at 5 p.m.

Fun on the Farm

Sylvester Manor's hands-on activities and in-person family tours will continue through Sept. 26 on Shelter Island. Families of up to five can take advantage of Farm Exploration sessions on Tuesdays at 9 and 10 a.m. for $60 per family. Ninety-minute private tours for up to six people are held on Saturdays at 1 and 3 p.m. and cost $200 per family.

An opening reception for "Aprés Surf," a collection of art and design that gives an "afterlife" to the material objects of surfing, happens Friday from 6 to 9 p.m. at Stick + Stone at Grain Surfboards in Amagansett.

Local female entrepreneurs, designers, and artists will present their work on Saturday from 2 to 6 p.m. at the Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett. Jewelry, art, beauty products, and other merchandise by Superflower, Jillian Aldrich Jewelry, Bjorn Vintage, Aluna's Vintage, Coaco Masks, and Meeses Pieces Mosaics will be offered.