Thank you to all who served. In honor of Veterans Day 2022 we offer deep gratitude, good resources and indelibly moving stories.
Continue readingDear Veterans: Thank You For Your Service
Firefly Lights! Gratitude, Veterans, Holiday Prep!!!
Thank you for making us the 2022 Best Art Gallery on Long Island and for all you do to support local art and artists. We’re pleased to learn we’ve been nominated again — Thanks! It means a lot!!!
Vote for us here every day through December 15th!!!
In this update:
– GRATEFULLY GETTING READY – Our FIreflies are creating and planning all sorts of wonderful things!
– HONORING OUR VETERANS we are pleased to host “Ink Stories: Symbols and Service.”
– KIRK LARSEN will be hosting a special exhibition in our Darcy Arts Center
– DID YOU HEAR THE NEWS? We are excited!!!
GRATEFULLY Flying Into the Holiday Season!!!
As we race from the excitement of last summer straight into the holidays, the first thing we have to say is THANK YOU!
Thank you to all who have supported our transition! Our future is bright because of our amazing community. We would no longer exist if not for you. Thank you for helping keep the Firefly Light Shining!!!
Our Fireflies are making like busy elves, crafting all sorts of things for the holiday season. Once again we will offer our popular “100 works at $100,” as well as a $50 and under table where you can come find something modestly priced, and uniquely handcrafted by our talented artists for everyone on your list.
If you want to commission something special, ask now! Many of our artists would love to create that special gift for you.
Many Fireflies will be hosting trunk shows and demonstrations throughout the holiday season. Stay tuned for details. They’re so much fun!!!
…and now...NOW…we hear we are receiving a MAJOR AWARD set to light up our whole beautiful, slightly wacky village!
Do you already know what we’re talking about? Find out below!!!
Special Exhibition: “Ink Stories: Symbols and Service”
Thank you to all who served.
In honor of Veterans’ Day, we are hosting “Ink Stories: Symbols of Service”
This is an amazing project assembled in 2019 by Librarian Kathryn Heaviside of the Northport-East Northport Public library to share Veteran’s stories and experiences through photographic representations of their tattoos.
The show will be on view at The Firefly Artists 11/4-11/13.
Here’s an article on the show in the TBR News Media from back when it was put together in 2019.
Special Exhibition: “Take Me Home: Oils Watercolors & More by Kirk Larsen
We are pleased to announce that Firefly Kirk Larsen will be holding a solo show of works in our “Darcy Arts Center”
Kirk’s an internationally known Plein Air painter (painting outdoors in Natural light) and one of America’s foremost Marine Artists. His landscape, seascape and nautical images grace the walls of homes throughout the area, globally and in museums reflecting his passion for discovering new places, seeing the commonplace with fresh eyes, the water, the environment and sailing.
Learn more at kirklarsenfineart.com and by following @kirklarsenart on Instagram and Facebook
The show will be on view November 15-30
Opening Reception: Tues 11/15 from 6-9pm
Closing Reception and Mini Auction: 11/30 from 5:30-8:30pm
All works are for sale.
The Leg Lamp Returns! We are so Psyched (and a Little Overwhelmed!) to Receive this Major Award
Fundamentally, the Firefly is the best because it has the best community ever.
Thanks to our community—starting with folks at Firefly’s core and spilling out into the streets, across LI and beyond — we are privileged to be racing from our wild adventures last summer into all that it means to host forty small businesses on Main Street during the holiday season.
Now! Now we hear from diverse corners that Northport is bestowing upon us “A Major Award”…
All kidding aside, this event is really much bigger than us…a very special torch folks are coming together to help us light as part of a very special Small Business Saturday Northport tradition…
They then had a wonderful pop-up/trunk show together in our Darcy Arts Center. In addition to showcasing their wares, Michele also raised money for the Lighthouse selling cards made of Jan’s beautiful painting. It was a lovely day!
We’ve Been Nominated! Again!!!
Not only have we been nominated, but we are more sure than ever that our Fireflies are THE BEST!!!
We are thrilled to have been nominated for “LI’s Best Gallery” in the annual “Bethpage Best of LI” contest. If it was you who nominated us, THANK YOU! If you’re one of the many who’s votes made us Best of LI 2022, THANK YOU!!!
You can vote for us – and other great local treasures – EVERY DAY between now and December 15th!
Please vote often and help spread the word! Thanks!!!
About the Firefly Artists
Come to our beautiful new location, The Old Hardware Store at 90 Main Street, in Northport!
***NEW HOURS***
Mon-Wed 11am-6pm
Thurs-Sat 11am-9pm
Sun 11am-5pm
We were established in 2011 to create a gallery setting for local artists. The goal was to create a space where artists could meet, collaborate, and sell their beautiful creations.
Over more than a decade, The Firefly Artists has had the great privilege to display a stunning variety of work by hundreds of Long Island creators through our Main Street locations and pop-up galleries. We boast extraordinary talent, while maintaining a very down to earth and supportive atmosphere that is unique to Long Island.
In 2020 we expanded our offerings to create the Darcy Arts Center, featuring special exhibitions and classes in addition to the rich selection of works by our resident artists. While we are adjusting to our new space, we are thrilled to be able to continue these expanded offerings, right in the center of everything!
Come see, and bring home that perfect thing to brighten your world or someone else’s!
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and check our website for all the latest updates!
Thank you for your support!
More to the Story…
When I last saw one of my smart, loving, mommy friends…one of those grandmothers they speak of who rise up to save the world…she spoke of a video that’s inspired her:
Continue readingElection Day is Coming! Are You Informed?
Election Day 2022 – November 8th is upon us! Many of you may have already voted. Here are some resources to help you make the best decisions for you.
Continue readingFirefly Lights: Grateful…
This is what moving a family centered Main Street gallery – specifically The Firefly Artists in Northport – looks like.
Or a little bit of it, anyway.
Honestly, Beth and her kids have been doing a brunt load of the labor. Here are two of mine helping me last weekend.
Then there’s been Drigo and maybe a buddy or so moving giant stuff or setting up hanging systems after his day job, while Jen busts her butt virtually cranking out so many things we need…so grateful for this amazing team…it really is something special…
And so many Fireflies, helping out each in their special ways, and otherwise picking up their stuff and bringing it down the road, piece by ever loving piece…
Here’s our GoFundMe. We have an amazing raffle going at 90 Main Street now, the prize winners for which will be pulled on Cow Harbor Day, 9/18/22. We also have a silent auction coming together. Mostly, we hope you will support our Fireflies, the local artists who are the reason we do all of this, by buying their beautiful works and telling others about this wonderful place to find them.
Thank to all who are helping make this move possible. Since our lease was broken, if it wasn’t for our great community, we wouldn’t be continuing at all.
Now, we move forward with great hope:
May the best be yet to come!
About the Firefly Artists
Our NEW location is 90 Main Street. Throughout the month of September, 2022, we are also still located at 162 Main Street in beautiful downtown Northport, where we have a GORGEOUS exhibition, “pARTy til the Cows Come Home” running. Hours will be extending soon. For now, our galleries are open:
Tues-Thurs 11am-6pm
Fri-Sat 11am-8pm
Sun 11am-5pm
Over the past decade, The Firefly Artists has had the great privilege of displaying a stunning variety of work by hundreds of Long Island artists through our Main Street locations and pop-up galleries in the community. We boast some extraordinary talent, while maintaining a very down to earth and supportive atmosphere that is unique to Long Island.
We were established in 2011 to create a gallery setting for local artists. The goal was to create a space where artists could meet, collaborate, and sell their beautiful creations.
In 2020 we expanded our gallery by creating the Darcy Arts Center on the second floor of our building. This beautiful gallery space is rich in natural light and dedicated to special exhibitions and art workshops featuring world renowned instructors.We are eager to continue to be an outlet for local artists, offering a place to create, grow and connect to customers.
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and check our website for all the latest updates!
Thank you for your support!
A 4th of July Reflection on US
The 4th of July honors the US Declaration of Independence. Its most well-known passage is the foundation upon which the colonists’ grievances were justified and a bold declaration of human rights…
Continue readingHappy Father’s Day!
Thinking About Fathers by Katheryn Laible
Happy Father’s Day!
Here is a photo of my own father, wandering through the village of his grandfather, telling stories about him, the mother he raised, his own father, and his father…
I am grateful for him, for them, for my sweet husband, and for all who give it their best to be a good man and serve as a father. It means more than I can say….Thank you!
Apparently Father’s Day didn’t come about until quite a few decades after Mother’s Day. In fact, while in the US it was apparently initiated by a woman named Sonora Smart Dodd in 1909, whose dad raised her and her five siblings alone, it didn’t become an official national thing until 1972!
You can read about that and other fascinating bits in this Britannica entry, as well as in this History.com article.
I love this collection of “The Best Quotes on Fatherhood” from The Art of Manliness…
Did you know there’s a National Fatherhood Initiative dedicated to helping foster fatherhood?
I am also really, really grateful for all who step up to serve in a fathering role, This expecially includes all those folks who for one reason or another end up wearing both mother and father hats, and those who are determined to be the father they wish they had.
One sweet and broadly helpful example is this guy, Rob Kenney who hosts “Dad, how do I?” on YouTube. Kenny’s dedicated to doing his “best to provide useful, practical content to many basic tasks that everyone should know how to do.” He started out just trying to do it for his own kids, and now we all benefit.
Grateful!
Juneteenth
I wrote this in 2022, and while I look forward to having time to write more, my thoughts here still stand. May we give it our best to keep rising…
Continue readingHeroes Take the Field: USA Patriots Amputee Softball Team
Come to The Firefly Artists 7/22 starting at 5pm for a special reception with extraordinary heroes: The USA Patriots Amputee Softball Team.
Continue readingMemorial Day Meaning and Events on Long Island
Every Memorial Day, Gus Scutari would invite veterans, Long Island dignitaries and the children up. Learn about the 2022 Syosset parade here in the Syosset Patch.
Here is a guide to resources for honoring Memorial Day 2022 on Long Island.
The last Monday in May, this three-day weekend at the dawn of summer, is set aside to honor the tremendous sacrifice made by soldiers who gave all. It is a time to pause and acknowledge how veterans offer their very souls to our Nation, and to give solemn consideration to the responsibility we have as citizens to ensure they are treated well and that we give it our best to create a nation somehow worthy of such sacrifice.
While the specific focus is those lost to war, it is also important to recognize those left behind. For many, this is a very personal affair. Please do not say “Happy Memorial Day” as many are honoring lost loved ones and reckoning with memories, knowledge and feelings that are incredibly difficult. It is better to offer gratitude for service, and to offer a listening ear and an open heart.
I have been told by several veterans that this does not mean the day should be entirely without joy. The barbecues and the lighter sides of the parades are important moments of community and, yes, even celebrations of life and nation. May we do so with a mind to surround service families in love, light, and gratitude for the blessings they seek to offer so much to preserve.
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Various Guides to Memorial Day and Where They’ll Lead You
Here’s a Guide to Memorial Day Parades from News12 Long Island including Island Park, Airshow Cruises in Freeport, Hempstead, a Riverhead Painting Festival, Bay Shore, Elwood, Farmingdale, Freeport, Little Neck, Long Beach, Malverne, Massapequa Park, Mastic, a Parade and Open House at Raynham Hall in Oyster Bay, Merrick, Northport, Painview-Old Bethpage, Sayville, St. James, Smithtown, Southold, and West Islip
This one of parades and events from the LI Press includes the Bethpage Air Show, Hempstead (the oldest parade on LI), The Largest Parade of the Five Towns in Cedarhurst, an Air Show Cruise in Freeport, Little-Neck Douglastown (one of the largest in the nation), Massapequa, Wantagh, Port Washington, the Parade and Open House at Raynham Hall, Levittown, an event of music, food, and fun at Harbes Family Farm in Mattituck, Babylon, Southold, and Lindenhurst.
From Greater Long Island we learn about parades in Bay Shore, Babylon, Patchogue, Stony Brook, Fire Island, Huntington, Rockville Centre, Center Moriches, Farmingdale, and Ronkonkoma.
A Bit of History and More Current Stories on Honoring the Day
Here is the encyclopedic definition of Memorial Day from Britannica.
You can learn more on the History website.
Here is a meaningful piece in the LI Advance offered by Dave Rogers in 2021. He was a tremendous asset to veterans, the arts, and local business in Patchogue for many years. Thanks to social media, he continues to serve veterans everywhere from his new home.
Here is a piece on a call for a county-wide moment of silence by Long Island leaders featured on Texas Public Radio.
This story from News12 LI is about Ron Errickson Jr, who be spending this weekend cleaning up Tinton Falls, a cemetary in New Jersey of African American soldiers who weren’t permitted to be buried with white ones.
Here, the National Park Service looks back over 150 years of Memorial Day traditions springing up across the nation. It also offers links to specific major memorial sites in its care, including The Korean War Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, National Mall and Memorial Parks, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, World War II Memorial.
In another piece from History, did you know that one of the earliest Memorial Day events in the USA was held by freed slaves?
This feature in Almanac offers some more history including why the Poppy is important, the poem “On Flanders Field,” and a bit about the flag and distinguishing holidays honoring those who serve in the military. There are also recipes and the Memorial Day calendar for the next several years.
Finally, here is my own piece honoring Costantino “Gus” Scutari. Gus was a World War II Veteran who long served as a champion for good citizenship and thoughtful Americanism, and who dedicated his later life to the Syosset Memorial Day Parade. He passed at the age of 99 in April of 2020. He is now a namesake of Underhill Blvd, where he long held the ceremonies following the parade, and the Syosset VFW, where he would invite everyone for hot dogs and refreshments after.
It is fitting to hear that in honor of his memory and an enduring spirit that is likely leading it anyway, there will be no Grand Marshal of this parade.
