Long Island News

The Town of Huntington is marking Memorial Day 2026 with a noon wreath ceremony at Veterans Plaza honoring the classified 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, a unit of 1,100 artists and engineers who deceived Nazi forces across Western Europe with inflatable tanks and fake radio traffic. Multiple hamlet parades also step off at 10 a.m. The ceremony at 100 Main St. is free and open to the public.

The Long Island History Hunt launched Saturday from Oyster Bay, sending families to 26 Revolutionary War sites between Brooklyn and Montauk through September 30. The Oyster Bay-organized scavenger hunt offers a $1,776 grand prize and is timed to America's 250th anniversary, with all 26 locations tied to the region's colonial and Revolutionary War past.

Restaurateur Max Feinberg opened Side Street Dive at 11 Railroad Avenue in Patchogue this spring, converting the former Burgerology space into a pizza and cocktail bar in the heart of downtown. The opening adds another dinner option to a stretch of Patchogue Village that has drawn half a dozen new restaurants in the past two years.

From a 5K at Belmont Lake State Park Sunday morning to a drone show over Jones Beach Monday night, Long Island's Memorial Day weekend packs parades, carnivals, and waterfront ceremonies into 48 hours. Here are six events across Nassau and Suffolk worth adding to your plans before the holiday is over.

York Hall at Nissequogue River State Park will become a performing arts venue after New York State committed $1.5 million to its restoration this February. The move signals that Smithtown's $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant is crossing from planning into active construction along the Kings Park commercial corridor near the LIRR station.

Huntington Village packs walkable dining, a working harbor, major arts institutions and preserved open space into a stretch of Suffolk County's North Shore that draws visitors from across Long Island all summer. From harbor dining at Prime to Caumsett's forest trails and the Heckscher Museum, here is where locals go.

After six years of serving visitors from a food truck and a beach bar tent, Doug and Lee Biviano opened the new Whalehouse Point Restaurant and Bar at Watch Hill on Fire Island on Friday, completing a rebuild that began after a September 2019 fire destroyed the original structure. Grand opening is June 20.

Long Island's June calendar brings a run of outdoor events across Nassau and Suffolk counties, from the South Shore Mall Carnival opening in Bay Shore this week to the Bellmore Fireman's Fair at month's end. Here are five community events worth adding to the calendar before summer fully kicks into gear.

Riverhead Town Board closed the public comment period Wednesday on its proposed condemnation of 111 E. Main St., the former Swezey's building long tied to the Long Island Science Center's downtown expansion, after a nearly three-hour hearing divided residents over whether the town has a clear plan for the property if seizure proceeds.

Long Island's Memorial Day weekend opens with rain arriving Saturday morning and tracking through Sunday, with totals near one to two inches possible before skies improve in time for a mostly dry Monday. Temperatures recover to the low 70s by Memorial Day, with an above-average heat surge expected inland through midweek.

Cooper Bluff, the only waterfront bar on Oyster Bay Harbor, opened for its 2026 summer season at the start of May, giving Nassau's north shore its sole dedicated harborside spot just as boating season gets underway. Memorial Day weekend is the first major crowd test of the summer.

Seven Long Island communities hold Memorial Day parades this Sunday and Monday, from the Cedarhurst-Lawrence Five Towns march at 10 a.m. Sunday to Great Neck's 100th annual procession at 9:30 a.m. Monday — with Bay Shore, Long Beach, Northport and Copiague all marching Memorial Day morning.

Riverhead Town Board approved a letter of intent Wednesday with the YMCA of Long Island to redevelop the vacant state armory at 1405 Old Country Road into a full community fitness center under a proposed 99-year lease, the most concrete step yet toward a YMCA in a town that has gone without one for years.

Long Island school districts plan to spend an average of $41,934 per student in 2026-2027, the highest figure in New York State and more than double the statewide average of $18,979. Roslyn in North Hempstead ranked No. 3 nationally, Syosset No. 2, and a dozen Long Island districts landed in the country's top 100. Here is what the spending covers and where the pressure is headed.

Taheni Mediterranean Grill has opened a second Long Island location at 175 Bay Shore Rd. in Deer Park, bringing its halal menu and Palestinian culinary tradition to a busy commercial stretch near the Tanger Outlets. The family-owned restaurant, already established in Lindenhurst, serves shawarma wraps, bowls, a smash burger in potato pita and manakish.

From a country-themed street fair along the Peconic River to the new Empire State Fair at Nassau Coliseum, Long Island's summer calendar fills fast after Memorial Day. Here are six events across Nassau and Suffolk worth planning for in June, with dates, locations and what to know before you go.

Long Island Rail Road service resumed Tuesday afternoon when the MTA and five unions representing 3,500 workers agreed to a four-year contract, ending a 3.5-day strike that paralyzed 300,000 daily commuters. Workers receive annual raises of 3 to 4.5 percent plus a $3,000 lump-sum payment. Full service was restored across all branches by 4 p.m. Tuesday.