Plans unveiled for new Riverhead Alive on 25 and Halloween Fest

The highly anticipated Alive on 25 summer festival in Riverhead’s downtown is undergoing a transformation under its new organizer, Main Street Agency, bringing the focus back on Riverhead.

Diane Tucci, Riverhead Town Board coordinator and founder of the consulting group Main Street Agency, revealed plans for this year’s Alive on 25 at a town board work session Thursday, June 5. Following the announcement that the Riverhead BIDMA would no longer be producing Alive on 25 or Halloween Fest this year, Ms. Tucci was granted the task for a flat fee of $15,000 by the town to oversee the large-scale events. Here are what folks can look forward to.

Alive on 25 will be held on two Fridays, July 18 and Aug. 1, from 5 to 9 p.m., with a new location for the July fireworks show on the Peconic River behind the Town Square. A rain date is set for Friday, Aug. 22.

Over the last several weeks, Ms. Tucci — who is a former executive director of the Riverhead BID, Riverhead Chamber of Commerce and who worked on organizing Greenport’s annual Maritime Festival — said she has curated craft vendors, musical acts, food and drink offerings, and other street festival essentials in an effort to create a reimagined summer block party and downtown crawl — where the fun goes “beyond the street closure.”

“We’re not Patchogue, we’re not any other town … We created this event working with Patchogue — literally, we met with them, and they gave us a blueprint. We took Alive After 5 and copy and pasted it onto Main Street,” Ms. Tucci said. “It’s kind of time to change it up, because it’s not Riverhead. The whole idea is, in the very short amount of time, to keep the event going, because everybody loves the event and what it’s about, but starting to infuse what Riverhead is about and the East End.”

Now more music-centric, there will be around 14 areas for live music, and the festival’s footprint will now be expanded down past Cliff’s Rendezvous. The road closure will specifically be from the Salvation Army Thrift store located near the aquarium to Griffing Avenue.

Ms. Tucci said the idea is to focus less on vendors filling in these spots, but have live music performers from a variety of genres stationed in these gaps. Each act will be paired with specific businesses on Main Street, and festival goers can bring their own seating, set up in a spot and enjoy the music.

“Go into a restaurant, get something to go, get a beer from wherever and sit and watch the music, then pick up their chair and go somewhere else,” Ms. Tucci said. “These spaces are really more filled with people sitting, enjoying the music and having their own seat — during this time, there’s not enough spaces for people to sit.”

After hearing complaints, Ms. Tucci said there will be no charge for downtown businesses to set up on Main Street this year. In the past, the expense could be up to $5,000 for the square footage, but it’s now “completely free” to them, she said. Vendor fees were also reduced by almost half of what was previously charged, which was nearly $500 for two nights last year.

Aside from artisans and craft vendors, Ms. Tucci said there is a push to include nonprofit organizations as well, specifically those with environmental missions and those that engage in issues relevant to the local area. There have already been talks with East End Food, Slow Food East End and Half Shell for Habitat.

“It’s in faith knowing that all the things that I’ve been doing have paid off, and I see it come to fruition,” she said. “These guys are really impacted, sometimes negatively, by this event, particularly with it being on a Friday night — charging them more money is not right.”

Several local breweries will be participating this year, including Long Ireland Brewery, Twin Fork Brewing Co., Ubergeek Brewing and Jamesport Farm Brewery. The number of food trucks will be scaled down to just those that operate in Riverhead or by Riverhead residents, and strategically placed to fill any gaps.

To intrigue the younger population in Riverhead, the downtown crawl will include new and returning activities and entertainment, such as laser tag, street pickleball, selfie photo check-ins and a classic car show and race car display run by Riverhead Raceway.

Since the fireworks show location is moved to the Peconic River, Grangebel Park and the Reflextions immersive art exhibit will now be open to the public to visit during the festival.

To make the festival more interactive, Ms. Tucci said there are plans in the works to set up a digital map online, where attendees travel around, check in to various locations and receive prizes from businesses that are not in the downtown, possibly Splish Splash and Scott’s Pointe.

Ms. Tucci also mentioned there would be no political campaigning or religious outreach at Alive on 25.

“This is really about our makers, growers, artisans, craftspeople and things that are fun for people to enjoy,” she said. “The downtown crawl is really bringing more back to that Riverhead focus.”

In regards to Halloween Fest, Ms. Tucci said they would like to stage previously raced coffins on a vacant parcel near Shampaige Island Cuisine to get the community “pumped” for the October event. Those who would like to donate their “coffins” for the display can email [email protected].

Alive on 25 is seeking volunteers and event staff, particularly interns and teenagers looking for event planning experience or community service. Sponsorship opportunities are also available. Anyone interested in learning more can visit aliveon25.org for contact information.

“You guys have really put something phenomenal together in such a short amount of time, and the level of creativity that we see here today is just incredible,” said Councilwoman Joann Waski, who is also town liaison for the Riverhead BIDMA. “I’m excited about it. I think downtown Riverhead is just going to shine this summer, and moving forward with so much positivity.”