So much to see and do across the Island
Four miles of nature trails wind through 150 landscaped acres at Oyster Bay’s Planting Fields Arboretum, open year round. Flowers abound the manicured grounds, while the greenhouse displays hibiscus, orchids, succulents and camellias. Tour Coe Hall, the historic Tudor Revival residence of the Coe family, through September, filled with 1920s period furnishings, paintings, stained glass, and decorative arts.
Enter your own classic car or come admire hundreds more at Hempstead’s Seaside Spectacular Car Show, September 15 at Town Park Point Lookout. Admission and parking are free to enjoy a magnificent display of street machines and live bands. Vote for your favorite car while you drink in the chrome.
It’s year 26 for the annual Bellmore Family Street Festival, a carnival, expo, amusement park and playground rolled into one giant celebration. Petting zoos, pony rides, home and auto shows, animal exhibits and lots of live entertainment spread over a 25-block area means you won’t run short of weekend, September 22-23.
Old fashioned is still in style at The Long Island Fair, September 27-30 in Old Bethpage. Visit Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders, old time baseball, children's races, decoy carving, Civil War exhibits and music by the Old Bethpage Brass Band. Compete in corn shucking and log cutting contests or guess the weight of the heaviest pumpkin at the fair.
Dancing in the streets is required at Port Jefferson‘s 7th Annual American Music Festival, September 28-30. You’ll find it hard to stand still with 25 headlining bands playing on multiple stages around Port Jefferson. It’s all the funk, rock, jazz, and blues you can handle, plus a Kid-Zone with rides and hands-on fun, and it’s free to the public.
Combine four stages of entertainment, a world-class carnival, hundreds of arts and craft vendors, international food courts, beer and wine, a farmer’s market, and activities especially for kids, and you’ve got Long Island’s Fall Festival at Huntington, October 5-8 at Heckscher Park. Admission and parking are free and the shuttle from Huntington Train Station is just a buck.
On Sunday, October 7, one of the state’s largest festivals returns to Riverhead. The Riverhead Country Fair draws thousands of visitors to a day full of crafts and agricultural competitions, amusement rides and entertainment, a roaring midway and plenty of fair food. Kids will love the pony rides and farm animals.
From Argyle Lake to Wildwood, Long Island’s 15 state parks are an oasis for the city-weary with playgrounds, shady picnic groves, and sports fields. In Montauk, Shadmoor State Park’s 99 rolling acres access 2,400 feet of ocean beachfront by two stairways. Bluffs, freshwater wetlands, hiking trails and shoreline views are its notable features.
For more information, visit the Long Island region.