Winter Wellness Week Announced for January 11-17 in Downtown Oyster Bay

Oyster Bay, New York – Over a dozen businesses offering health and wellness services in downtown Oyster Bay, are planning to help you get your new year off to a great start! A “Winter Wellness Week” will be held from January 11-17, 2010.

“Oyster Bay is becoming a major health and wellness destination on Long Island and this week is about showing off the amazing variety of services we have to provide downtown,” said Diane Meltzer, Promotion Chair with the Oyster Bay Main Street Association.



Spas, fitness centers, healthcare practitioners, and physical therapists have combined with restaurants and health food establishments to provide a variety of health and wellness related goods and services.

A sampling of events to be held during Winter Wellness Week follow:

Nutritional consulting and an open house will be held at A Healthy U, 98 Audrey Avenue, on Wednesday, January 13, from noon-6pm.

Nutritional cooking classes for kids age 6-10 will start Wednesday, January 13 at What’s Cooking, 30 East Main Street, at 4pm. To register please call (516) 922-COOK.

A ballroom dancing class will be held at Yoga Rocks!, 127 South Street, on Friday, January 15, at 6:30pm. Registration fee required. To register please call (516) 624-YOGA.

The Wheel of Life monthly personal development workshop, to be held at Yoga Rocks! will start Saturday, January 16, from 2-4pm. To register please call (516) 624-9642.

Reflexology demonstrations and an open house will be held at FootPrinz Reflexology and Massage Therapy, 53 East Main Street, 2nd floor, on Sunday, January 17, from 1pm to 3pm.

Insure the health of your portfolio by giving it a free check-up at Stifel Nicolaus & Co., 50 Audrey Avenue. Please call (516) 624-2702.

Special discounts will be offered at different businesses. At “A Healthy U”, a new nutritional supplement and health food store downtown, a 20% discount on all items will be provided throughout the months of December and January.

Oyster Bay is already home to an American Heart Association Start! Path going through the downtown area. This one-mile path provides an opportunity for people to get daily exercise, while also enjoying historic sites in the downtown. Audio wands and maps highlighting this path may be picked up at the Baykery Cafe, 124 South Street.

Restaurants are getting into the act too. Canterbury’s Oyster Bar and Grill at 46 Audrey Avenue will feature a variety of whole grains, legumes, beans, salads and wraps; along with organic beer, wine and vodka. Fiddleheads Restaurant at 62 South Street will feature heart-healthy seafood items like wild salmon, cod, tuna, sea bass, crab, and oysters. These will be served with healthy accompaniments of whole grains, nuts and the freshest fruits and vegetables.

For a full listing of discounts and special events, please visit www.oysterbaymainstreet.org.

Main Street Announces over $100,000 in Improvements to Downtown Oyster Bay

Oyster Bay, New York – The Oyster Bay Main Street Association is pleased to announce that over half of a total of $200,000 in grant dollars have been awarded for building renovation and streetscape improvement projects.


The Brower House is one of several buildings targeted for rehabilitation through the New York Main Street grant program.

The first project to be funded is rehabilitation of the Brower House at 39-41 East Main Street. New York Main Street grant dollars will help to create one to three commercial units on the ground floor and two residential units on the upper floor.

The Brower House was built prior to the Civil War and is one of the oldest remaining residential buildings in the downtown area. Francis Brower, a milliner, is shown to have resided in the building as early as 1869. One of the Brower children, Wilber Brower, would later go on to marry Lois G. Bryant, a direct descendent of William Cullen Bryant. Fannie Brower is the last known Brower family member known to have resided in the family house, passing away some time after World War II.

Fiddleheads Restaurant is the second project to be funded. Investments here will help to stabilize an existing business, and contribute to recovery in the South Street corridor. Dollars are being allocated to facilitate expansion of the existing restaurant into an adjacent unit in the building they are located in. Historically appropriate signage will be added to the exterior, increasing the visibility of this business.

The Coin Galleries of Oyster Bay is being provided funds to upgrade and improve their signage on their building at the corner of South Street and Audrey Avenue. The design for this project is under consideration by the Oyster Bay Main Street Design Committee. This design calls for historically appropriate awnings over the windows, and carved historically appropriate signs above.

Another project tapped for New York Main Street grant dollars is Il Piatto restaurant which is re-branding itself as The Homestead. Grant dollars here will be used to help re-skin the existing awning, and install a new carved sign with gooseneck lighting.

An additional $25,000 is being targeted for streetscape improvements in the downtown area. Particular emphasis is being placed on improving lighting and signage on South Street, East Main Street, and Audrey Avenue Extension.

A second round of applications is being accepted for the remaining funds to be awarded. Projects eligible for funding must be located in the three block “target area” including the main intersection of Audrey Avenue, East Main Street, and South Street, and bounded by Spring Street and Audrey Avenue to the West, Hamilton Avenue to the North, White Street to the East, and East & West Main Streets to the south.

Building or business owners in the project area are eligible to apply for up to $40,000 per building, with an additional $20,000 per assisted residential unit available. The grant will require at least a 25% cash match on the part of the owner.

Oyster Bay Main Street Association will be responsible for selecting projects from applications received. Main Street President Ellen Roché said, “At the direction of the state we are especially looking for projects in the target area that have historic value, are visually prominent on Main Street, or that will, with the assistance of grant funds, realize a stabilization or expansion of a Main Street business.”

Completed applications are due by 4pm on Thursday, January 7, 2010, and may be delivered to the Main Street program office at 55 East Main Street, Oyster Bay. The grant application may be found on the Oyster Bay Main Streets website at www.oysterbaymainstreet.org or a copy may be requested by calling (516) 922-6982 or writing to oysterbaymsa@gmail.com.