Barefoot and Wagons
By Drew Fineberg

Have you taken an ocean swim lately? The water is blue, clear, warm (-ish), calm and overall just awesome. Not good for surfing, but we can’t have it all...always.

Peter Tartaglia at the OB Historical Society

On Saturday, July 29, the Ocean Beach Historical Society presented the works of Peter Tartaglia in a show entitled “Where the Ocean Meets the Sky.” Tartaglia, a native New Yorker and retired NYPD officer, only started painting the landscapes surrounding Ocean Beach and Blue Point six years ago. In that time he has won several prizes at the Annual Sayville Art Show and has been featured on the cover of the Village of Ocean Beach’s presentation at the New York State Quality Communities, Quality Coasts Conference in Albany. As a landscape artist, Peter Tartaglia works both through photography and digital photo editing and painting. When creating one of his scenic Ocean Beach landscapes, Tartaglia said that he first photographs the landscape. The inspiration for all of his Ocean Beach landscapes was “just being here,” he said. Perhaps the most striking feature of his artwork is how his style reflects a great deal upon his perception; his paintings illustrate the landscapes “not so much as it really is, but as it might be.”

Welcome To Ocean Beach

What could Ocean Beach’s mayor, trustees, and village attorney be doing together on a Saturday night? More than two dozen Fire Islanders, from elected officials to politically outspoken residents, congregated for one purpose: to welcome new homeowners to Ocean Beach. Robert Nager, President of the Ocean Beach Association, led the festivities by introducing new homeowners Ken and Carolyn Mekeel, and Ken Gray, Tom and Joan Ryan and Jeremy Conway to the community. During the previous summers, back when she was just a renter Joan said she “found it to be paradise.” Ken Mekeel and Gray joined the OB Fire Department as EMT response personnel during their rental periods. Others, like Jeremy, who said he first heard about Fire Island by reading a history of New York, decided to become a homeowner shortly after discovering Fire Island. “The Ocean Beach Association speaks for the people,” said Mayor Loeffler, and they certainly did: “Hello new homeowners, and welcome to Ocean Beach.”

And....
Watch out Country at Bocce. There may not be a garbage can nearby next time!
Feel better Cliff!

Upcoming Events
Friday, August 11: The Community Fund’s poetry reading. Location and time to be determined. Look for flyers around town.
Saturday, August 12: The Sweet Sound Band plays two sets at the dock, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.
This weekend, August 12 through 13, the Arts & Craft Show will be held at the Village Green.
“Chill Out” this Friday, August 18 from 6 to 8 in the OB ballfield. Don’t miss Les Leiber’s All-Star Jazz Sextet and guests from Wynton Marsalis band.
For children: Kenny Goodman is scheduling reading to the children in the gazebo. Nana has already been reading on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 12:30. We heard she is a hit!