Long Islanders soak up Labor Day at beaches, parks, ballgames

On the first Monday in September, Long Island’s working men and women celebrated. They observed Labor Day at beaches, barbecues and ballgames, the children by their sides wringing the last drops from a season of freedom.

At Smith Point County Park in Shirley, Jessica Giovannettone, 41, of Mastic, watched as her three children dug holes in the sand and played in the water. Giovannettone, a fifth-grade teacher in the William Floyd school district, and her children returned to school Thursday, so the transition away from easy days at the beach has already begun for them.

After they packed up their towels and chairs Monday, she said they planned to break out the decorative pumpkins and apple spice candles.

“We’re going to decorate for fall as soon as we go home today,” she said.

Nearby, 10-year-old Alissa Yonker, of Mount Sinai, and her 8-year-old brother, Andrew, dove into the waves. Both have participated in junior lifeguard training programs with the hopes of one day staffing the lookout towers.

On their mind Monday was the fact they will be back in the classroom on Thursday.

“We’re sad, but we want to go to school because it’s fun sometimes,” Alissa said.

“Because of our friends,” added Andrew.

Stacie Trested, 51, of Ronkonkoma, grabbed a final frozen drink at Tiki Joe’s snack stand, a mix of piña colada and strawberry margarita during her family beach day. She plans to trade days at the ocean for visits to East End farms and vineyards this fall but couldn’t help lament the end of the season.

“I wish we had a little more summer,” she said.

On Monday, Jones Beach State Park had 32,000 visitors and Robert Moses State Park had 26,000, George Gorman, Long Island regional director of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, said in a phone interview. "Today is traditionally not an overwhelming beach day," he said. "You see people going to buy school supplies, school clothes." Total attendance this year at Jones Beach may hit a record 7 million people, he said, with Robert Moses on track for 3 million.

The holiday on the Island was sunny and dry, with a high of 78 degrees and evening lows expected to dip into the 50s, according to the National Weather Service. That pattern will hold for most of the week, said Brian Ciemnecki, a meteorologist at the weather service’s Upton station. He said a low-pressure system moving into the area before the weekend could bring rain Friday and Saturday.

At Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, Long Islanders spent Labor Day lighting up the grill, going for a jog and riding the playground swings.

Jackie Concepcion, 40, of Levittown, took her 6-year-old son, Greyson, to the park to practice riding his tricycle before taking off the training wheels in the coming weeks while his 18-month-old sister, Lillian, walked on the grass.

“He’s got school Wednesday, so big things are happening,” said Concepcion, a nurse practitioner at Adelphi University, of Greyson, who is starting first grade. “And she’s going to day care for the first time," she said of Lillian.

Xavier Freeman, 24, of Hicksville, spent the afternoon strolling the park with Grace Malinowski, 24, of Buffalo, before planning an afternoon cookout.

It’s a moment of needed respite for Freeman, a student at Long Island University’s Veterinary Medical College.

“We don't have tests for a couple more weeks so I’m trying to enjoy these nice sunny days and get ready for the school year,” he said.

Nearby, Aston Codling, 62, of Westbury, was enjoying a light walk with his wife and neighbor before heading home for a family barbecue.

On the menu, he said, “a little jerk pork, corn, hot dogs and other stuff.”

For some, the holiday was a day of reflection. Married couple Anne and Josh Zar, both 65, of West Hempstead, said they were burdened by the news that six more hostages were found dead in Gaza, including Israeli American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, a native of Berkeley, California.

“They are very frightened over there,” Anne Zar said. "But it makes me appreciate my freedoms here. You have all different ethnicities coming here. People are enjoying it, and people are living together.”

The day also brought Long Island pet owners together at the Long Island Ducks' "Bark in the Park" game at Fairfield Properties Ballpark in Central Islip, where leashed dogs were welcome at the day game against the Lancaster Stormers.

Chris Russell brought her dog, Al, a 15-year-old maltipoo she had found wandering on a Brentwood road one cold January day.

Sporting a white jersey and a cap in Ducks green and orange, the 15-pound dog sat quietly on Russell’s lap as the teams played.

 Al, who is blind and deaf, got to meet QuackerJack, the Ducks' mascot.

“He can’t see. And he can't hear," Russell said of her pooch. "But he's here. He's on my lap, which is his happiest place."

Monday was the first time Charles Chou, of Forest Hills, Queens, brought his gray mini schnauzer, Maggie, to a baseball game. Chou adopted Maggie, about 3, a few weeks ago from the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons.

Chou was “a little bummed” that summer is ending. But Monday felt like a good close to the season as he sat in the bleachers watching the game and bonding with Maggie, with gentle breezes sweeping past.

“Today's just such a beautiful day,” Chou said.