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Tara Conry
Long Island native Tara Conry is newsday.com's Nassau community journalist. A Hofstra University communications graduate, most recently she was a local editor for Patch and previously reported for the New York Daily News, Reader's Digest and SmartMoney. She's earned awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Press Club of Long Island and the American Society of Magazine Editors. When not covering Long Island's local communities, Tara enjoys running (often with her Old English Sheepdog by her side), playing soccer and indulging in her love of musical theater.
Day 1 in Bayville: Exploring Bayville and meeting its characters
Photo credit: Tara Conry
Good morning and greetings from Bayville!
Today kicks off Newsday’s five-day “Town Focus” in the waterfront village of Bayville. Although Bayville may be small — only 1.5 square miles in size and home to roughly 6,600 residents — there is plenty to see and do here, and there are quite a few characters.
I met one of Bayville’s biggest characters Saturday night. Jackie “The Jokeman” Martling...
Read more »Bayville is heaven on earth for Jackie 'The Jokeman' Martling
Photo credit: Tara Conry
Jackie “The Jokeman” Martling, 65, is a stand-up comedian, radio host, actor and a former writer and radio personality for “The Howard Stern Show.” Martling, a native of East Norwich and a graduate of Oyster Bay High School, has lived in Bayville since 1976. Today he hosts his own radio show, “Jackie’s Joke Hunt,” on Sirius XM Howard 101, performs live and can be seen in the new mobster film, “Send...
Read more »Annual St. Rocco Festival in Oyster Bay draws about 50,000
Photo credit: Tara Conry
Walking around the St. Rocco Festival in Oyster Bay Sunday night was a vastly different experience for native Tracey McIntyre than it was 20 years ago.
As a teenager, McIntyre, her twin sister, Tricia, and their friends would attend every single night of the five-day festival that takes place at Fireman’s Field on Shore Avenue. They’d ride the amusement rides, play the carnival games and enjoy...
Read more »Coming up: Town Focus in Bayville
Photo credit: Tara Conry
Sandy beaches, stunning views of the Long Island Sound, and an amusement park. This is how I will be spending the next week. No, I won’t be cashing in any vacations days, but rather I’ll be working in a place just about 30 minutes from Newsday’s Melville office: Bayville.
The village of Bayville is only 1.5 square miles and it’s almost completely surrounded by water, so as you can imagine...
Read more »Lynbrook's Greis 3rd in Coca-Cola 'America's Favorite Park' vote
Photo credit: Fran Berkman
On a typical summer day, Greis Veterans Memorial Park in Lynbrook is bustling with activity. Families splash around in the park’s three pools, run under the flower-shaped sprinklers and frolic on the playgrounds while athletes of all ages take advantage of the various courts, fields and fitness trail on the 15-acre grounds.
“Whether you have a 13-year-old or a 3-year-old, there’s something...
Read more »Battle of hair stylists benefits group that aids impaired vets
Photo credit: Tara Conry
Before the models hit the runway Sunday night at The Emporium in Patchogue for the fifth annual Shear Runway Project hair styling competition, Ralph Anthony Capozzi stepped onto the catwalk cradling a puppy in his arms.
The 2-month-old black Labrador retriever came from the Smithtown nursery of the Guide Foundation for the Blind and America’s VetDogs.
For the past three years, Capozzi,...
Read more »Hair stylists go head to head at Patchogue competition
Photo credit: Handout
The costumes will be colorful and the music will be festive, but tonight’s Cuban-themed runway show in Patchogue will be all about the hair.
Ralph Capozzi, owner of Capozzi Salon & Co. in Sayville, is hosting his fifth annual Shear Runway Project this evening at The Emporium located at 9 Railroad Ave. in Patchogue.
After months of preparation, Capozzi’s stylists will go head-to-head,...
Read more »Miss Wantagh contestants offer volunteer visions
Photo credit: Tara Conry
With the spotlight on her, Shayna Held didn’t hesitate when asked with whom she’d want to be stranded on an island.
“I would want to be stranded on the island with someone who knew how to get off the island, so I could get back to my home to my family and the town of Wantagh,” said Held, 15, a junior at Wantagh High School who went up against six other local teens Monday night in the 57th...
Read more »Student filmmakers capture spirit of Long Beach Sandy survivors
Photo credit: Jackie Salo
Walking through the West End section of Long Beach with their teacher two weeks after superstorm Sandy battered the community, 17-year-old aspiring filmmakers Brenda Cespedes and Erick Urquilla didn’t know what to expect.
Weeks earlier, Cespedes, an 11-year Long Beach resident, watched Sandy pummel her city from her neighbors’ second-floor apartment, and the she knew there was a meaningful...
Read more »Mets' David Wright fulfills 'Dream' for wheelchair-bound LIer
Photo credit: Handout
Sitting in her wheelchair inside the New York Mets clubhouse, Peri Finkelstein said she was in awe as her favorite player, David Wright, reached out and touched her hand.
“I was speechless,” said Peri, 13, of West Hempstead, recalling the encounter she had with her favorite Met on June 16. “I couldn’t help it, because he was so cute.”
Peri remembers Wright complimenting her on the pink...
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