Funday Monday in North Hempstead is summer camp, and a community, for seniors
Annie Dent, in flower top, on the country line dance at Funday Monday on Aug. 12 at North Hempstead Beach Park in Port Washington. Credit: Newsday/Howard Schnapp
On Mondays, North Hempstead Beach Park in Port Washington feels a lot like summer camp. There are pickleball games, dance classes and sugary snacks.
Except the campers are seniors. Some drove themselves, and some were bused in from an assisted living center.
For more than three decades, Funday Monday has provided entertainment, social interaction and physical activity for the town’s senior citizens. Set against the backdrop of the sandy beach and the crisp blue Hempstead Harbor, the event is not just an opportunity for older folks to get outside — it is a micro community unto itself.
"Some come just to sit and chat. I come for the dancing," said Elinor Beirne, 75, of Mineola. "Seniors can often just sit at home and wallow and do nothing. We need the motivation to get out."
Over the years, the summer Mondays have struck a chord with the town's seniors. And the events have increasingly reflected the diversity of North Hempstead Town, which has a population of nearly 240,000 residents and is home to a growing immigrant population — including from China, South Korea, Iran and parts of South Asia.
It's also a must-stop for the town's elected officials, where retail politics is on full display.
Some 600 seniors have attended each Funday Monday this season, starting with the July 8 kickoff and ending on Monday. Last week's theme was country music. Supervisor Jennifer DeSena, who serves as the unofficial master of ceremonies, donned a cowboy hat and a red bandanna after her pickleball game.
The town budgets $50,000 for the events, including for food, music, instructors and giveaways.
DeSena took line dancing lessons with the seniors and then bopped around the stations, posing for photos and hearing constituents’ concerns. Every week, she said, she meets someone who tells her it’s their first time.
"Often seniors feel like they’re not important anymore, they’re not valued," DeSena, a Democrat who caucuses with Republicans, said. "We show them that they’re valued."
Beirne, a Mineola resident for the past 54 years, said she’d only discovered Funday Monday last year. She plopped a cowboy hat atop her head and spent much of the day on the dance floor wearing a wide smile.
The town made an effort to attract more residents over the past decade, recalled Judi Bosworth, a Democrat who was North Hempstead town supervisor from 2014 until 2022.
"Throughout the years, I saw Funday Monday grow exponentially," Bosworth said. "Whether it was mahjong, pickleball, line dancing or health fairs, we always strove to meet the changing needs of the great seniors of North Hempstead.
The weekly summer event has long been a favorite stop for elected officials — including those running for reelection.
"It's always been a tradition that the elected officials in the town all come down to see the constituents, and candidates from all stripes," said Wayne Wink, a Democrat who served as town clerk from 2014 through 2022.
Funday Mondays originated in the early 1990s, but it went by different names, including Sun 'N Fun for Seniors in 1994, according to newspaper archives.
The composition of the town has changed since then, both in size and racial demographics. In 2020, for instance, the town's Asian population was 23%, up from 15% in 2010, according to U.S. census data.
"The demographic change in North Hempstead has been among, or even the most dramatic of any town on Long Island," said Lawrence Levy, the executive dean of the National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University.
"North Hempstead has diversified," Levy said. "It took a town that was almost entirely white and made it a model for demographic diversity that’s transforming suburbs around the country."
On Aug. 12, dozens of Persian Jews from Roslyn, many of them wearing yarmulkes, sat together under a canopy. Among them was Esther Bokhour, 71. A single tear rolled down her left cheek as she described feelings of loneliness as she’s gotten older.
"The kids go with their family and they’re not thinking about the parents, not too much," Bokhour said. "When we come here, it’s good for us."
On the other side of the park, Ron Kerzner, 82, sat on a bench, tapping his hand to the beat of the music. He was bused to Funday Monday from Denton Green, an independent living facility in New Hyde Park, and snacked on pound cake, coffee cake and cherry pie.
Kerzner hoped to be at the last Funday Monday of the season, when the theme is a salute to the troops. And he had a message to other seniors considering attending.
"They should come!" he said. "They do it once, they’ll come back."
On Mondays, North Hempstead Beach Park in Port Washington feels a lot like summer camp. There are pickleball games, dance classes and sugary snacks.
Except the campers are seniors. Some drove themselves, and some were bused in from an assisted living center.
For more than three decades, Funday Monday has provided entertainment, social interaction and physical activity for the town’s senior citizens. Set against the backdrop of the sandy beach and the crisp blue Hempstead Harbor, the event is not just an opportunity for older folks to get outside — it is a micro community unto itself.
"Some come just to sit and chat. I come for the dancing," said Elinor Beirne, 75, of Mineola. "Seniors can often just sit at home and wallow and do nothing. We need the motivation to get out."
Over the years, the summer Mondays have struck a chord with the town's seniors. And the events have increasingly reflected the diversity of North Hempstead Town, which has a population of nearly 240,000 residents and is home to a growing immigrant population — including from China, South Korea, Iran and parts of South Asia.
It's also a must-stop for the town's elected officials, where retail politics is on full display.
Some 600 seniors have attended each Funday Monday this season, starting with the July 8 kickoff and ending on Monday. Last week's theme was country music. Supervisor Jennifer DeSena, who serves as the unofficial master of ceremonies, donned a cowboy hat and a red bandanna after her pickleball game.
The town budgets $50,000 for the events, including for food, music, instructors and giveaways.
Decades of tradition
DeSena took line dancing lessons with the seniors and then bopped around the stations, posing for photos and hearing constituents’ concerns. Every week, she said, she meets someone who tells her it’s their first time.
"Often seniors feel like they’re not important anymore, they’re not valued," DeSena, a Democrat who caucuses with Republicans, said. "We show them that they’re valued."
Beirne, a Mineola resident for the past 54 years, said she’d only discovered Funday Monday last year. She plopped a cowboy hat atop her head and spent much of the day on the dance floor wearing a wide smile.
The town made an effort to attract more residents over the past decade, recalled Judi Bosworth, a Democrat who was North Hempstead town supervisor from 2014 until 2022.
"Throughout the years, I saw Funday Monday grow exponentially," Bosworth said. "Whether it was mahjong, pickleball, line dancing or health fairs, we always strove to meet the changing needs of the great seniors of North Hempstead.
The weekly summer event has long been a favorite stop for elected officials — including those running for reelection.
"It's always been a tradition that the elected officials in the town all come down to see the constituents, and candidates from all stripes," said Wayne Wink, a Democrat who served as town clerk from 2014 through 2022.
Funday Mondays originated in the early 1990s, but it went by different names, including Sun 'N Fun for Seniors in 1994, according to newspaper archives.
Changing demographics
The composition of the town has changed since then, both in size and racial demographics. In 2020, for instance, the town's Asian population was 23%, up from 15% in 2010, according to U.S. census data.
"The demographic change in North Hempstead has been among, or even the most dramatic of any town on Long Island," said Lawrence Levy, the executive dean of the National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University.
"North Hempstead has diversified," Levy said. "It took a town that was almost entirely white and made it a model for demographic diversity that’s transforming suburbs around the country."
On Aug. 12, dozens of Persian Jews from Roslyn, many of them wearing yarmulkes, sat together under a canopy. Among them was Esther Bokhour, 71. A single tear rolled down her left cheek as she described feelings of loneliness as she’s gotten older.
"The kids go with their family and they’re not thinking about the parents, not too much," Bokhour said. "When we come here, it’s good for us."
On the other side of the park, Ron Kerzner, 82, sat on a bench, tapping his hand to the beat of the music. He was bused to Funday Monday from Denton Green, an independent living facility in New Hyde Park, and snacked on pound cake, coffee cake and cherry pie.
Kerzner hoped to be at the last Funday Monday of the season, when the theme is a salute to the troops. And he had a message to other seniors considering attending.
"They should come!" he said. "They do it once, they’ll come back."
Funday Monday facts
- Funday Monday originated in the early 1990s, officials said. It takes place at North Hempstead Beach Park in Port Washington.
- The event draws about 600 seniors per week.
North Hempstead budgets $50,000 for the events, including for food, music, instructors and giveaways.
Joshua Needelman covers the Town of North Hempstead for Newsday. A Long Island native and University of Maryland graduate, his work has appeared in publications including The New York Times and The Washington Post.
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