Villages

The Rev. Alexander Karloutsos, the pastor at Dormition of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church of the Hamptons in Shinnecock Hills, is to be awarded the prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom by Joe Biden Thursday at a White House ceremony honoring this year’s recipients.

The Montauk Airport will remain open as an airport, its new director and general manager, Neil Blainey, said this week, and there are no plans to change that status.

After disbanding as the Bridgehampton Citizens Advisory Committee last October, former members of the group met at the Bridgehampton School Monday afternoon with a laundry list of housekeeping items, freshly minted articles of incorporation from the State of New York, and a set of land-use priorities that they will focus on in coming months as the independent nonprofit Bridgehampton Civic Association.

This photograph shows members of Dayton Hedges’s (1884-1957) family attending a tea ceremony on Aug. 21, 1953, in the East Hampton Library’s courtyard as part of the dedication of the library’s Hedges Room.

The scientific name of the whip-poor-will, Antrostomus vociferus, is spot-on. According to “Birds of America,” edited by T. Gilbert Pearson, “the first word . . . means ‘cave mouth’ and the second . . . ‘strong voice.’ ”

Flag etiquette is an especially big deal around the Fourth of July, in a country where nearly 70 percent of Americans own or fly the flag and spend an estimated $5 million annually on Fourth of July flags. Whether they display the flag with a sort of purist fidelity to the Flag Code is another thing — and given the highly detailed protocols, it’s a high bar indeed.

Moira and Robert Booth of New Hyde Park and Southold have announced the engagement of their daughter, Katelyn Barbara Booth, to David Charles McGinnis Boak, a son of Kathleen and Charles Boak of Amagansett and New York City.

At the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals meeting on June 17, Acacia L.L.C., the owner of 8 Marina Lane, asked to reopen its application for a sunken tennis court.

East Hampton Village Fire Chief Duane Forrester has a message for would-be Independence Day celebrants with a sackful of illicit fireworks at the ready: “Leave the fireworks to the professionals, so everyone can have a safe and happy Fourth of July.” True, true — and there are plenty of fireworks shows coming up over the holiday weekend and through the summer to enjoy the rockets’ red glare without, you know, losing your thumb to an M-80.

The Springs General Store is the unofficial center of the hamlet, a place where people flock for breakfast on weekends or coffee and camaraderie on weekday mornings, and where children head after school for a bag of candy or three cookies for $3. "For me the biggest gift is that I was able to be an active part of the community in a way that one person cannot always be," said the business's owner, Kristi Hood.

“It sucks,” a mason said of the trade parade back in 1997, and other entertaining tidbits ripped from the pages of your beloved hometown newspaper.

East Hampton Village’s Tuesday night Main Beach concerts, an instant hit in their inaugural season last year, will be back for the summer this week, with reggae by Winston Irie kicking off the series.