Week in Review: Election Season in Swing

Debates in Southold, Riverhead, Honoring Arts, Environmental and Community Leaders

Author

Beth Young
October 19, 2025

Election Season

Southold Town Board Candidates on a Community at a Crossroads

If there’s one thing this year’s candidates for the Southold Town Board can agree on, its that this long-rural town is at a crossroads, after being discovered by the outside world. Where they differ is on a vision for how Southold should best adapt to the future.

Southold Elections: A Field Too Wide to Fit On A Stage

Tuesday’s Town Board candidate debate was just the warm-up for their main act, joked Southold Town Trustees as they took the stage for a discussion of issues facing Southold Town waterways almost two hours into the North Fork Civics’ marathon Meet the Candidates Forum.

Farms, Tech, Taxes & Downtown in the Spotlight at Riverhead Candidate Forum

Thursday evening at the Riley Avenue School was the hottest ticket in Riverhead, as residents from Jamesport to downtown to Wading River packed into the auditorium to hear from all six candidates running for Town Supervisor and Town Board this November.

Hubbard Appreciation Day Will Honor a Couple Who Brightened Greenport

Any picturesque place you visit is defined as much by the people who call it home as it is by the landscape.

In Greenport, painter Whitney Hubbard and his wife, pianist and organist Ruth Hubbard, were known about town for their kindness and the way they shared their skills and talents with the community.

A century-and-a-half after Whitney Hubbard’s birth, his work is known far and wide for its inventive impressionism, new to the United States in Hubbard’s time, which inspired a school of artists here now known as the Peconic Bay Impressionists. 

Kedenburg’s Legacy: A Sanctuary for Birds, and for People Too

There’s something new and beautiful down at Inlet Pond County Park in Greenport. Just to the east of the Red House, a nature center that serves as the headquarters for North Fork Audubon, is a delightful new garden, protected from deer, designed to provide food for migrating birds and a waystation for weary people who need a dose of nature to go on with their day.

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On The North Fork

Honoring an Advocate for the Dignity of Mattituck Students

Emma Morais, Rafael Morais and former Mattituck-Cutchogue School District Superintendent Anne Smith at the Oct. 9 awards ceremony.

Students who are having a tough time of it at Mattituck High School know that when they need help, the school’s Community Liaison and Bilingual Educator Rafael Morais will have their back.

And this week, all of Southold knows it too, after Mr. Morais received the Southold Town Anti-Bias Task Force’s Helen Wright Prince Award Oct. 9.

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Water Forum to be Held in Orient

As access to fresh and safe drinking water has been at the forefront of North Forkers' minds this year, the Orient Association is holding a Water Forum at Poquatuck Hall on Oct. 25, to give the community a chance to learn more about the state of groundwater here.

Featured

Peconic Dish: The Warmth of Delicata

by Alison Boyd-Savage

I am so happy to see the return of Delicata squash at the local farmstands. These little beauties are at their best early in the season, with tender skin and sweet juicy flesh. They need little enhancement beyond a quick roast in the oven with sea salt and olive oil. Dress them up with some aromatic spices and a tangy maple-thyme drizzle, and you will have the perfect fall side dish or salad.  Pair it with my take on traditional Irish soda bread, served warm with plenty of good butter.

Featured Letter: Southold at a Crossroads

To The Editor, from Southold Town Board Candidate Nick Planamento:

Southold is at a critical moment. We face serious challenges:  from staffing and employee retention and zoning reform to environmental concerns, water management, and the urgent need for community-based housing.

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ON THE AIR

Behind the Headlines

At this week’s Behind the Headlines on 88.3 WLIW-FM, Beacon editor Beth Young joins a panel discussing a lawsuit filed by Southampton and Riverhead Towns against New York State over the location of cannabis dispensaries, the evacuation of a nursing home in Greenport during last weekend’s nor’easter, the expansion of the Riverhead Ambulance Corps headquarters, and the controversial purchase of an armored vehicle by the Southampton Town Police Department. Beth and Denise close the conversation with tributes and recognition of recently passed community leaders.

Upcoming…

Saturday, Oct. 25

Greenport Halloween Village Returns

The Greenport Business Improvement District’s 6th Annual Greenport Halloween Village, in collaboration with the Village of Greenport, will turn this seaport town into a haunted Halloween Village on Oct. 25.

Saturday, Oct. 25

NFEC Jamesport Repair Café

Start collecting your broken items today, as the North Fork Environmental Council will hold a Repair Cafe in Jamesport from 1 to 4 p.m. at the George Young Community Center.

Sunday, Oct. 26

Race for the Greenway at Hallock State Park

A 5K Run/Walk to raise money for the Trust for Public Land’s effort to create a biking and pedestrian trail that will stretch nearly 200 miles from Manhattan to Montauk.

Keep Independent News on the East End

The Beacon is able to provide all of our content online free of charge thanks to support from our readers. Be a vital part of keeping our community informed!

Words

“Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.” — John Quincy Adams

See you next Sunday,

Beth

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