What better way to make friends than over an ice cream sundae?
The founders of the East Marion Community Association figured scoops of ice cream topped with syrup, whipped cream, sprinkles and a cherry would help them accomplish their goal of building community in their tiny hamlet near the eastern tip of the North Fork. The first ice cream social the new group hosted at the East Marion firehouse nearly a decade ago accomplished its goal — and it’s been a mainstay of the organization’s annual summer membership campaign ever since.
“A very big part of our purpose was building community,” founding member Ruth Ann Bramson said. “East Marion is a very linear community. It doesn’t have some of the community institutions that other hamlets have. We began this as a way for people to get to know one another,” said Bramson, who served as the organization’s first president.
Each year, the ice cream social comes at the end of the group’s annual membership campaign. “People like to come down for ice cream to renew their memberships and visit with their neighbors. Their kids or grandkids really enjoy it, too,” she said. And each year, the group picks up new members at the event.
Though initially launched in response to a developer’s plans for an abandoned oyster factory on the bay, the organization engages in a broad variety of activities. It has a presence at Town Hall, weighing in on matters of interest to the hamlet, but the EMCA goes beyond issue advocacy. The group puts together programs for its monthly meetings aimed at education and providing residents with useful information. The meetings are always very well-attended, Bramson said.
“EMCA is not the voice of a small handful of people. We’re very careful about how we arrive at the positions we take on issues,” she said. “We seek consensus before we speak as a group. Everyone who’s here and involved knows about it and participates.”
EMCA maintains an updated website and sends out a regular newsletter by email to keep the community informed about local issues.
Yesterday, her successors in office, current president Anne Murray and past president Robin Imandt, were busy renewing memberships and greeting up new members as children, parents and grandchildren arrived for a sweet mid-afternoon treat and socializing.
Bramson thanked the Country Corner Cafe in Southold for storing the tubs of Hershey’s ice cream — vanilla, chocolate, cookies ‘n’ cream and moose tracks — in their freezer as a favor to the group.
“They were very pleasant about it and we can’t thank them enough,” Bramson said.