OBMSA Annual Meeting to be Held at Octagon Hotel, September 16, 7-9pm

Octagon Hotel as it appears today

The Oyster Bay Main Street Association will hold their Annual Meeting on September 16, 2010. The meeting will be held at the historic Octagon Hotel at 67 West Main Street from 7-9pm.

The Keynote Speaker for the meeting will be Nancy Melius-Murton, Director of Marketing at Oheka Castle in Huntington, New York. This historic home of Otto E. Kahn was built between 1917 and 1919. Following a period of neglect, the home was purchased in 1984 by Gary Melius, and since then the estate and gardens have been lovingly restored. Nancy returned to Long Island a few years ago to spend more time with her family and to develop the family business. Subsequently she founded the Gold Coast Mansions Historic Long Island Alliance, which is working to market mansions and historic sites on Long Island.

Over the past decade OBMSA has been responsible for bringing about needed changes in downtown Oyster Bay. Over 40 building renovation projects, parking and public space improvements, and the opening of several new businesses have resulted.

In the past year alone significant results have come from investing the $200,000 New York Main Street grant. Highlights include expansion of Jack Halyard’s American Bar & Grill (formerly Fiddleheads), restoration of the 19th century Brower House on East Main Street across from the Doubleday-Babcock Senior Center, and new signs and awnings for the building housing Coin Galleries of Oyster Bay. Another project, renovation of the Townsend Inn Annex at 9 Audrey Ave has also yielded the first new business recruited – a furniture consignment business called Mill Pond Consignment.

This summer Main Street offered the second season of the popular Oyster Bay Sundown concert series on the First Thursday of each month. And on July 30 the popular and successful Oyster Bay Farmers’ Market was started. The markett will run every Friday through October 8 from noon-6pm by the U.S. Post Office. Thanks to these and other events, more people are discovering every day what Main Street members already know – that we live in a charming and desirable place.

Main Street's collaborative efforts working with other organizations were shown through special events held at Atelier Fine Arts / Studio, The Teaching Studios of Art, and Oakcliff Sailing Center. OBMSA and the Oyster Bay-East Norwich Central School District recently formed a partnership to promote service learning opportunities.

For more information, or to become a member of the Oyster Bay Main Street Association, please visit www.oysterbaymainstreet.org or call (516) 922-6982.