Grind

The Hamptons International Film Festival is off and running with its first full day of programs. Each year festival insiders and veterans offer some tips for those who are here for the first time as well as seasoned alumni. Here we share a few of the best of them.

The Hamptons International Film Festival is doubling down on immersive storytelling this year, with two dramatically different approaches to the medium, each of which involves travel. 

On Thursday's wet and windy fall evening, the Hamptons International Film Festival raised the curtain on its 27th edition. "Just Mercy," the opening night film, was screened at Guild Hall and the East Hampton Cinema with a party following at Wolffer Estate Vineyard in Sagaponack.

The annual Tyler Valcich Memorial Car Show happens on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Amagansett Firehouse.

The Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter is joining an initiative called Organ Donor Enrollment Day, which is Thursday, Oct. 10.

"Field of Dreams" gave us the enduring phrase "If you build it they will come," Madonna's "Like a Prayer" was on the charts, and everyone was watching "The Wonder Years" on TV. Closer to home, Christopher Sarlo was the principal of East Hampton High School, Aubrey Peterson and Treacy Cotter were the homecoming king and queen, and Eugene Lester and Jeremy Trowbridge were the valedictorian and salutatorian. 

East Hampton Town Police Sgt. Joseph Kearney has retired after 22 years with the department. His fellow officers saluted him in a ceremonial walkout, held under a canopy in the pouring rain last Thursday.

According to the Suffolk County Board of Elections website, the cutoff date for in-person registration and postmarked mail applications is Friday, Oct. 11. A printable form is available online and forms are also available at each Department of Motor Vehicles office.

Applications for Guild Hall's Teen Arts Council are being accepted through Oct. 11. The council is open to teens age 14 and up who are interested in the arts.

The Teen Arts Council, founded in 2017, is "a collective of young creatives representing and celebrating a wide range of experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives," Guild Hall said in its announcement. Members "work within the institution to curate public programming, advance their own creativity, and progress Guild Hall's outreach and relationship to our local teen community."

Applications for Southampton Town affordable housing units at Sandy Hollow in Southampton and Speonk Commons are still being accepted, the town announced Wednesday.

The bowhunting season for deer opens on Oct. 1, and in Suffolk County licensed archers can obtain permits starting on Monday for access to designated areas in select county parks. 

The Hamptons International Film Festival will screen Trey Edward Shults's "Waves" as the closing night film on Oct. 14. It follows a suburban African-American family after a tragedy and stars Sterling K. Brown, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Lucas Hedges, Taylor Russell, and Alexa Demie.

The Wellness Foundation of East Hampton's next Wellness Challenge 360 program will kick off next Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton.

The organization said in an announcement that "WC 360 takes a more holistic approach to health so that you can experience more balance in your life." The foundation promotes a "whole foods plant-based diet" and recommends eliminating added oils, sugars, and salt.

Hurricane Dorian left much destruction in its wake, and while the urge to help is great, New York State Attorney General Letitia James has offered some tips to ensure that donors are giving to reputable relief organizations. 

A ceremony at the Hook Mill village green on Wednesday evening at 6 will remember the 343 first responders who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. A 9/11 memorial will be dedicated in Amagansett at 5 p.m. that day.

Suffolk County officials have scheduled opioid overdose prevention classes across the county over the next month, including in East Hampton on Oct. 7.

Membership applications are available for the newly opened pool at Suffolk County Community College's Northampton campus. The competitive-size pool, the East End's largest indoor, heated aquatic facility, is open to the public daily, with evenings and weekend hours. 

“The new facility promotes a critically important health and fitness focus for the students and the community at large,” said Legislator Bridget Fleming.

Nominations are being accepted for the Bridgehampton School's Hall of Fame, which honors notable alumni, faculty, administrators, scholars, athletes, coaches, and community members.

It’s Harborfest weekend so Saturday and Sunday will be packed with activities. in Sag Harbor Village, including a crafts fair from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Marine Park, sidewalk sales from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the business district, and children’s games from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Long Wharf.

Classic aircraft, vintage cars, and modern jets will be on display at the East Hampton Aviation Association’s Just Plane Fun Day on Saturday, after having been moved to the rain date of Sunday temporarily, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at East Hampton Airport.

Get your pencils and notebooks ready, kids — the first day of school for most South Fork students is Wednesday.

The New York State Department of Transportation will soon repair cracks on Montauk Highway from Knoll Road in Shinnecock Hills to Tuckahoe Lane in Southampton, Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. announced Friday.

Fort Pond and Big Reed Pond in Montauk were free of harmful blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, blooms when Concerned Citizens of Montauk took water samples earlier this week, but a number of testing sites in Montauk, Amagansett, Springs, and East Hampton showed elevated levels of enterococcus bacteria, even before Wednesday's heavy rains.

The Montauk Seafood Festival will return for its seventh year under a tent at Gurney’s Star Island Resort and Marina on Sept. 7 and 8 from noon to 5 p.m.

The 73rd annual Shinnecock Powwow, one of the largest powwows in the country, gets started tomorrow in Southampton and runs through Labor Day, featuring dancing and vendors. The grounds open at 3 p.m. tomorrow and at 10 a.m. Saturday through Monday. Dancers make their grand entry at 7 tomorrow night, and again at 12:30 and 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, and at 12:30 p.m. on Monday.

Admission is $12 for adults, $10 for senior citizens, children 6 to 12 years old, and the disabled. Children 5 and under are free, as is parking. MasterCard and Visa are accepted. Pets are not allowed.

The Center for Science Teaching and Learning in Rockville Centre wants Long Islanders to suggest names for its two recently arrived emus.

Steven Ringel, the executive director of the East Hampton Chamber of Commerce, who helped launch the spring, fall, and summer fairs held in East Hampton Village, is leaving the post at the end of August, the chamber announced on Friday. 

Bacteria levels dropped to some of their lowest numbers all summer this week at many water bodies Concerned Citizens of Montauk tests, including some with consistently high levels like East Creek at Lake Montauk, which showed low levels of the enterococcus bacteria for the first time since March.

"This was a positive week for water quality!" Kate Rossi-Snook, an environmental advocate with C.C.O.M, wrote of the results. 

Saturday offers a chance to properly dispose of household hazardous waste. The Town of Southampton will hold a STOP day — for Stop Throwing Out Pollutants — at the Sag Harbor transfer station on the Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Where did grandma's old, engraved table really come from? Randy Kolhoff, founder of Black Swan Antiques, might have the knowledge to answer some variation of that question at the Sag Harbor Historical Society on Friday.

An Antiques Show and Tell will let visitors ask Mr. Kolhoff, who's sold antiques for 13 years, about the origins of interesting or unusual objects they have at home. Mr. Kolhoff also owns Black Swan Meadows, part of the very popular Brimfield antique market in Massachusetts.