After the isolation of the pandemic, "we all feel like we need to unite," Nia Dawson said, and so she has organized an East End Interdependence Day for Sunday, the Fourth of July, to celebrate unity and highlight food justice.
The day will feature workshops and offer food, and there will be spoken-word poetry readings and information-sharing talks.
Walks to celebrate interdependence took place on July 4 in 2018 and 2019, but this year the organizers want to "redirect" the event, Ms. Dawson said, and are "thinking of it more as a celebration."
It starts at 4 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the South Fork in Bridgehampton with a welcome by the Rev. Kimberly Quinn Johnson and Ms. Dawson. Escola de Samba Boom will perform live music throughout, and food will be provided by restaurants including Almond and Townline BBQ.
The celebration will rotate among hosting buildings on the Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike: Participants can walk to the Bridgehampton Child Care and Recreational Center for an open mike, then to the Children's Museum of the East End for live music and an art project, and then to the South Fork Natural History Museum and Nature Center for more music. It will finish at the First Baptist Church of Bridgehampton for a closing talk, live music, and a pizza truck.
This year is Ms. Dawson's first as organizer. A recent graduate of Baruch College, she grew up in Bridgehampton and has deep family roots there: Elick Pinckney, an early Black entrepreneur, was her great-grandfather. She said the community has always been a source of support.
"All of it together is creating this overwhelming sense of community and sense of warmth," she said of the event, "that I think we've all been lacking this past year."
