Meghan Giannotta

When the Fun Book came to my parents’ front door each spring, I’d run off with it before they could give it a read and return it with circled listings and pages ripped out – my own edits of what would shape my grade-school summer vacations.

It was an unusual feeling years later when I worked on my first Fun Book behind the scenes with the ExploreLI staff. And an even stranger feeling when that book came to my parents’ front door in 2020 with my name inside as one of the editors.

Helping Long Islanders fill their limited – and coveted – down time with activities that are new, popular or even traditional is one of the parts of my job I enjoy most.

Helping Long Islanders fill their limited – and coveted – down time with activities that are new, popular or even traditional is one of the parts of my job I enjoy most. A new ride at Adventureland; a holiday-themed restaurant with a limited run; a zip-line at Jones Beach – they’re all activities that my younger self would have jumped at the chance to try, and ones that I’ve had a hand in coverage of for today’s Newsday readers.

My favorite stories involve breaking the news of an exciting new activity that’ll shake up our routines (Think: mobile axe-throwing cages that come to your door or a pedal-powered boat you can ride with friends). But there’s nothing like tapping into a story that hits just the right note of nostalgic appeal. When Safety Town got a $110,000 facelift earlier this year, reporting on it felt like I was reminiscing of my childhood with thousands of friends I’d never met.

I first joined the Newsday team in 2012 working for ExploreLI. While my career since has taken me to various beats across Newsday and beyond – covering social media, town news, snowstorms, TV, theater and NYC events – my experience came full circle when I landed back with the ExploreLI team in 2019.

Newsday is an important part of my story, and I’m honored to continue to share Long Island’s story with our readers.