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🐝 Will It Float

🐝 Will It Float

Housing Fund, Seafood Menu Getting More Local, Town Hall Makeover

Thomas Loncar
September 10, 2026

Together With

Good Morning, North Fork! Carrying a coffee while walking somewhere makes it feel like you have somewhere important to be.

In today’s North Fork Buzz:

Housing Fund
Seafood Menu Getting More Local
Town Hall Makeover

Ready, Set, Go!

The Lowdown

Housing Fund 🏠

Southold has more than $8 million sitting in its Community Housing Fund. The problem? The town needs to rewrite a good chunk of its code before it can start putting that money to work.

Town planners gave the Town Board an update this week on a seven step overhaul designed to clear those roadblocks. The first four steps are the big ones, and officials say getting those adopted could finally allow Southold to start funding housing projects.

First up is a new Community Housing Administration chapter that would put affordability, eligibility and spending rules in one place. The town also plans to create a Community Housing Overlay District, opening additional properties to housing development, potentially including town owned land behind Town Hall.

The town isn't stopping there. Later changes would tackle accessory apartments, rental permit rules and allowing apartments as a principal use in Hamlet Business districts.

The push comes as residents continue questioning why Southold hasn't spent more of the housing money voters approved back in 2022.

Get the full story 👉 East End Beacon

For an island surrounded by water, a surprising amount of the seafood served on Long Island comes from somewhere else.

While restaurant menus lean heavily on salmon, shrimp and imported branzino, plenty of fish caught just offshore, sea robin, dogfish, butterfish, scup, surf clams and whelk, struggle to find their way onto local plates. A growing group of East End chefs, fishermen and seafood advocates is trying to change that.

Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Choose Local F.I.S.H. initiative is helping diners figure out what actually swims around here, while its Long Island Seafood Cuisine Trail points to nearly 50 restaurants and fish markets serving locally caught seafood.

The bigger goal goes beyond dinner. Commercial fishermen are getting older, younger generations face a tough path into the industry, and familiar catches aren't always as plentiful as they once were. Creating demand for overlooked species could give fishermen more ways to make a living from what they're already catching.

East End chefs are doing their part by making the unfamiliar a little more tempting. Finn O’Hara at Silver Sands serves surf clam ceviche right in the shell and fried dogfish with coriander-chili aioli. Armond Joseph at Léon 1909 has worked with surf clams and invasive green crabs.

Get the full story 👉 Northforker

Town Hall Makeover 🏛️

After years of considering different layouts, about 150 of them, apparently Southold has settled on a plan for reorganizing Town Hall and the Town Hall Annex.

The decision clears the way for a major renovation of the annex, which Town Engineer Michael Collins described as roughly a five year project that can be tackled in phases.

The biggest move sends the Town Clerk’s Office and records management into the annex’s former bank space, along with a new office for the town trustees.

That sets off a chain reaction: the Town Attorney gets consolidated into the clerk’s old space, code enforcement heads to Town Hall, the ZBA gets roughly twice the room and the Building and Comptroller’s departments both get some breathing room.

But this isn't just an office shuffle. Plans call for a full HVAC overhaul, electrical work, climate controlled records storage and potentially septic and elevator upgrades, plus new meeting rooms and a staff break area.

Get the full story 👉 North Fork Sun

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Happenings: Weekend Preview

Friday

🍔 Back to School BBQ School is back, and Greenport PTO is easing everyone into the new year with burgers and a little friendly teacher competition. Head to Greenport School for food, face painting, pie in the face fun and the always entertaining teacher inflatable race. More Info

🎥 9/11: An American Requiem Screening Firsthand stories from 9/11 responders are at the heart of 9/11: An American Requiem, a documentary presented by the Stony Brook WTC Health & Wellness Program. CAST will host a special screening of the film, sharing the experiences of those who were there and the lasting impact they continue to carry. More Info

Saturday

⚾ Vintage Baseball Game Baseball goes old school for the sixth annual showdown between the powerful NY Mutuals and Oysterponds’ proudly ragtag team of local irregulars. Enjoy a friendly but fierce afternoon of vintage baseball, hosted by the Oysterponds Historical Society. More Info

🛍️ Yard Sale Benefit One person’s attic cleanout is another person’s Saturday morning score. Browse the Southold Historical Museum Yard Sale Benefit for unexpected finds, with every purchase helping support the Museum and its work preserving local history. More Info

🍎 Apple Festival Apple season is officially here. Harbes Orchard is celebrating Saturday & Sunday with two days of apple themed activities and plenty of reasons to spend a fall day at the orchard. More Info

🛍️ Community Yard Sale The Kait’s Angels Community Yard Sale is back at Strong’s Marina, and $20 gets shoppers all they can carry. This year’s sale will raise funds to support two North Fork locals, Knox Kopf of Mattituck and Karen Williams of Cutchogue, giving all that bargain hunting an even better purpose. More Info

⛵ Private Charter Bedell is taking wine tasting off dry land for this one. Bedell Cellars is teaming up with East End Charters for a private wine cruise aboard the 72-foot schooner Bonnie Lynn, with room for just 32 passengers to sip their way across the water.

🎶 Tango Quartet Tango has traveled quite a distance from its early days. The Pedro Giraudo Tango Quartet takes the stage at the North Fork Arts Center for a musical journey through the genre’s evolution from neighborhood venues to cafés and dance halls, and eventually to some of the world’s great concert stages. More Info

🎭 All My Sons Screening Arthur Miller’s All My Sons comes to the screen at Peconic Landing in a production filmed live from London’s West End. The acclaimed 1947 drama brings family, secrets and moral responsibility to the forefront. More Info

Sunday

🍽️ North Fork Foodie Tour The North Fork Foodie Tour is celebrating 20 years of putting local flavor front and center. Presented by the North Fork Reform Synagogue, the self guided tour features behind the scenes stops, demonstrations and visits with the people producing the region’s artisanal food, wine and beer, plus guest speakers at Charnews Farm. More Info

🏃‍♀️ 5K Family Walk/Run Every step helps support Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital. This year’s family friendly 5K will raise funds for the hospital’s Behavioral Health Department. More Info

🎭 The Guys A powerful 9/11 commemorative performance brings Anne Nelson’s The Guys to the North Fork Arts Center, starring Kevin Shea. Shea was the sole surviving responding member of FDNY Engine 40/Ladder 35, which lost all eleven of his fellow firefighters who responded on September 11. More Info

🍺 Oktoberfest The steins are ready, Oktoberfest is back. Greenport Harbor Brewing (Peconic) is serving up brats and pretzels alongside live music from Die Spitz Baum Band, plus a Stein Holding Contest for anyone who thinks their beer holding arm has what it takes. More Info

🌅 Locals’ Summer Summer gets one last proper sendoff at Eddie’s. Silver Sands chefs are bringing together local farmers, fishermen, winemakers, oyster growers and makers for a waterfront spread of seafood, oysters, cocktails and local wine, with music, fire pits and s’mores as the sun goes down. More Info

🕯️ Candle Making Wine, chocolate fondue and a little candle making are on the agenda for this crafty afternoon at Party Animal North Fork & Petal & Peep. Create yourown 6x9 dough bowl candle, customizing it with dried fruit, herbs, flowers, seashells and more. More Info

🎶 Feel the Rhythm Mitchell Park is getting a serious dose of rhythm with a high energy performance from Batalá New York & Monica Sanctuario. Part of Energia International, the performance brings percussion, movement and plenty of sound to the heart of Greenport. More Info

^{_{Nothing in this section is sponsored. They’re just fun things you need to know. I’ll always let you know when something is sponsored}}

Local Spotlight

Will It Float 🚣‍♂️

There are few things more entertaining than watching someone trust a homemade cardboard boat with their dignity.

The 4th Annual Cardboard Boat Regatta returns to Greenport Harbor during the Greenport Maritime Festival on Sunday, September 27 at 12:30 PM, bringing builders, paddlers and plenty of spectators down to the waterfront to see which creations actually make it across the finish line.

There are three races this year: Young Buccaneers for kids 12 and under, the Jolly Rogers Regatta for adults, and the Pirates Outlaw Race, where pretty much anything goes. Entry is $25 per boat, and while engineering skills certainly won’t hurt, creativity and a willingness to get wet may be just as important.

Spots are limited, so anyone ready to put their cardboard craftsmanship to the test can email [email protected] with “Cardboard Boat Regatta” in the subject line.

^{_{Nothing in this section is sponsored. They’re just fun things you need to know. I’ll always let you know when something is sponsored}}

Live Music + Fun Breakdown

Thursday

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Tom Loncar- Publisher
Nicole Loncar- Editor + Partnerships

🐝 Will It Float

Housing Fund, Seafood Menu Getting More Local, Town Hall Makeover

Together With

Sponsored By Petal & Peep

Thoughtful Gifts and Timeless Toys 🧸

The Lowdown

Housing Fund 🏠

Seafood Menu Getting More Local 🐟

Town Hall Makeover 🏛️

Happenings: Weekend Preview

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Local Spotlight

Will It Float 🚣‍♂️

Live Music + Fun Breakdown

Thursday

Friday

THANKS!