Things To Do On Long Island. Part 5

Welcome to the fifth part of Things To Do On Long Island guide. In previous 4 parts I have covered a multitude of activities available to Long Island visitors, like lighthouses, beaches, parks, boating, fishing, canoeing and kayaking, wine tasting etc. Today I’ll add a couple of other fun things to do on Long Island.

More than 400 species of birds, including 33 different kinds of wintering waterfowl, can be spotted along the waterways of Long Island and in the nature preserves. They include piping plovers, ospreys, egrets, songbirds, willets, terns, hawks, falcons, eagles and red cardinals. The outstanding bird-watching locations include Quogue National Wildlife Refuge, Mashomack Preserve and Morton National Wildlife Refuge.

On the rural East End, you can pull into a small roadside farm stand to purchase fruit, vegetables, homemade pies and jams. “Pick-your-own” strawberries in June, peas, tomatoes and peaches during the summer, and apples and pumpkins during September and October. There is a free guide to Long Island farms and farms stands available in the Long Island farm Bureau.

Appearing nightly: first class entertainment at Long Island’s live theatre and music venues.

Rock stars regularly fill the 14,354-seat Nikon at Jones Beach Theater, and the 17,500 capacity Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale (the latter also the home of NY Islanders NHL hockey team). The Tilles Center in Brookville is Long Island’s premier performing arts center.

Among the other unique venues: the Theatre at Westbury (formerly Westbury Music Fair), the 7,000-seat Brookhaven Amphitheater Arts & Cultural Center at Bald Hill in Farmingville and the restored historic theaters of Westhampton beach, Patchogue and Riverhead (Vail-Leavitt Music Hall). The Gateway Playhouse in Bellport is a historic summer stock company. The John W. Engeman Theater at Northport offers professional actors in Broadway musicals.

Professional theater also thrives on the East End, at Guild Hall’s John Drew Theatre in East Hampton, and at Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor.

Performance halls are located on the campuses of Hofstra University in Hempstead, Adelphi University in Garden City and Stony Brook University. The island also offers arts councils, comedy clubs and a number of high-quality community theater organizations.

That’s it for now. In the next and last part of Things To Do On Long Island article series I will tell about sports on the Island, namely golf opportunities and sporting events available for sports aficionados. Stay tuned for it.

Things To Do On Long Island. Part 1

Things To Do On Long Island. Part 2

Things To Do On Long Island. Part 3

Things To Do On Long Island. Part 4