Week in Review: At A Crossroads

The Future of Riverside, Local Elections, The Arts & Raising Shell

Author

Beth Young
November 30, 2025

On the Forks

A Defining Moment for Riverside Redevelopment Effort

Attorney Keith Brown showed the community a rendering of the proposed 7-Eleven at the Nov. 19 FRNCA meeting.

As several recent steps have moved forward the redevelopment of Riverside, just across the river from downtown Riverhead, residents here are concerned that the proposed construction of a 7-Eleven and gas station on the traffic circle at the center of the hamlet will thwart decades of effort to build a walkable, inviting downtown.

Dr. Edie Widder

Olympian Allyson Felix

Amy Goodman

Strong Women are the Backbone of This Year’s Doc Fest

At a time of great uncertainty throughout the world, you can be certain you will make better sense of the vastness of global challenges and see the personal stories of people caught in the midst of global events after spending some time at the Hamptons Doc Fest. 

This year’s festival runs Dec. 4 through 11, with screenings primarily at Bay Street Theater and the Sag Harbor Cinema. Half of the films this year are either about or told by women.

“In looking at the whole scope and field of documentary films, I think access to women is much more of an opportunity than, say, Hollywood would be, where there’s more of a glass ceiling,” said the festival’s founder, Jacqui Lofaro, in a late November interview with The Beacon. “About half of the films are about women, or have female directors, and the films are about leadership, and women pioneers in sports, science and music.”

Across the East End

New Youth Voices on School Boards

Student Ex-Officio School Board Members Stella Brecker, Faith Welch, Laurel Richards, Brooke Walling, Estefani Gomez, Emily Edwards, Mateya Silvera and Nico Grazina at the League of Women Voters event.

Across the East End and New York State, young people now have a greater voice in their educational experience, after the state mandated that school boards include a non-voting student member on their board beginning in July of this year.

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On the North Fork

Food Rescue Snaps into Action

George McVetty was among the volunteers from Food Rescue US’s North Fork chapter who picked up excess winter squash from Krupski Farms to distribute to several food banks and churches and little free pantries in Southold Town, Riverhead and Flanders in early November. |. Anne Howard photo

If the thought of the Thanksgiving feast has you worried about wasted food, take heart. Food waste could soon be a thing of the past on the North Fork, thanks to efforts afoot to bring excess food to people in need.

All Election Results Are Now In

Tim Hubbard

Hubbard Concedes Riverhead Supervisor Race

The results of this week’s manual recount of the Riverhead Town Supervisor race are in, and it’s official — Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard has been defeated by political newcomer Jerry Halpin, a local pastor, by 37 votes.

The Suffolk County Board of Elections announced the results of the tally, which began Monday morning, on Tuesday afternoon. The recount picked up a total of four more votes than the machine count, but the spread remained the same.

Jerry Halpin (left) and Tim Hubbard (right) at the Greater Calverton Civic Association's October debate — the only debate Republican candidates agreed to participate in.

News Analysis: East Enders Continue to Vote for the Person

The nationwide blue wave that hit the East End election night was a forceful reminder that, in the strange new world of 21st Century politics, former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill’s tried and true advice that all elections are local does not apply right now. 

This was most starkly seen in a Democratic sweep of the Southampton Town Trustees that unseated several longterm Republican members of the board that oversees Southampton’s waterways, leaving that board, for the first time, without a bayman on it.

The corollary local election guidance — that East End voters vote for the person, not the party — was also put to the test on Election Night, but in many ways it did still hold true.

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Theater

More to the Holidays Than Cheer

Director Mark Heidemann (left) and playwright James Pritchard (right) on the set of “Lessons from Hollywood.”

The theater company Northeast Stage has been producing shows in the area surrounding Greenport for 40 years now, making a name for itself through its Shakespeare productions.

But the company also has a rich history of producing offbeat and experimental plays, and this December they’re offering an alternative to the traditional holiday fare, a new play by local playwright James Pritchard, “Lessons from Hollywood,” running from Dec. 5 through 14 at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church (768 Main Street, Greenport).

The Business Accelerator

Raising Shell in Greenport

While Cornell Cooperative Extension's Shellabration shellfish pairing festival in downtown Greenport has been paused for this year, the Greenport business community has banded together for a weekend-long festivity Dec. 5 through 7 honoring all things shellfish.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Ongoing…

Holiday Lightings

The holiday lightings are just now beginning across the East End. Get the details in our Events Calendar.

Pictured: The annual lighting of The Big Duck in Flanders will be held on Wednesday, Dec. 3 at 7 p.m.

Sunday, Dec. 7

Cutchogue FD Stuff The Sleigh 5K

On Sunday December 7th the Cutchogue Fire Department will host its Thirteenth Annual “Stuff The Sleigh 5k Race and walk”.

Now in its 13th year, the race raises money for the Cutchogue Fire Department Scholarship fund and other charities supported by CFD.

Dec. 5 through Dec. 14

WWII Radio Christmas Play

boots on the ground theater presents a heartwarming show that takes us back to Christmas Eve 1944, with a live radio broadcast to our troops abroad and to folks at home. Audiences will see a 1940s radio studio on stage and watch as the talented players bring these vignettes and stories back to life.

Hot Off the Press

Our December print edition is now on newsstands throughout the East End
All words in and on The Beacon are always generated by human beings. Guaranteed.

Words

“The earth is simply too small and fragile a basket for the human race to keep all its eggs in.”

— Edgar Mitchell

See you next Sunday,

Beth