Crowds of visitors hopped on the bus on Saturday for the first day of the second annual “Taste North Fork” event — with the event scheduled to continue all day today.
From sampling fondue and oysters on Love Lane, to wine tasting at area vineyards and sipping beer at the Greenport Harbor Brewery, and taking advantage of a full slate of sales while staying overnight at area hotels and B & Bs, visitors from New York City, Northport, Garden City, Queens and a sea of other locales got their first taste of the North Fork — and liked what they saw.
Hampton Jitney buses ferrying visitors from Riverhead to Mattituck were reportedly packed to capacity, with vans on the Peconic loop also filled with happy guests.
According to women shopping on Love Lane and couples toasting at Sparkling Pointe Vineyard, the North Fork was a destination they’re definitely eager to visit again.
The Long Island Wine Council’s second annual “Taste North Fork” includes special tastings and events at wineries, breweries, farmstands, restaurants, hotels, B &Bs, and historical sites, stretches from Wading River to Greenport.
Participating this year are 114 businesses, including 29 wineries and other craft beverage producers, 19 hotels and bed & breakfasts, and 17 restaurants.
The popular event debuted last year, meant as an economic generator for the region during the shoulder season — and also promoting ways for visitors to travel without cars, utilizing public transportation and a series of Hampton Jitney bus loops to traverse the bucolic North Fork during the heart of the harvest season.
This year, according to Steve Bate, executive director of the Long Island Wine Council, the event has expanded to include three loops.
The “hop-on, hop off” shuttle service includes a Riverhead Loop, for stops between Riverhead and Aquebogue, a Peconic Loop” between Aquebogue and Peconic, and a Greenport Loop, with stops between Peconic and Greenport. The shuttles will circulate every 30 minutes from noon to 5:30 p.m. with passenger access from the Long Island Rail Road station in Mattituck, the Cross Sound Ferry terminal in Orient Point, and Tanger Outlets in Riverhead. Access to the shuttle loops will also be provided by a new Hampton Jitney “I Love NY” bus tour.
The second event follows on the heels of last year’s highly successful event, which saw visitors boarding buses and enjoying the best of what local business owners had to offer. “We were very pleased that over 1000 people used the shuttle service last year,” Bate said. “Hopefully ridership will continue to grow this year. If it continues to be successful, the shuttle could eventually become a permanent feature with major benefits for our environment while opening up our region to one of the world’s largest population centers with among the lowest levels of private car ownership.”
This year’s program is supported by a grant awarded to the Long Island Wine Council by New York State’s Empire State Development and the I LOVE NY Division of Tourism under Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Regional Economic Development Council initiative, Bate said.
For program details and latest updates go to www.eastendgetaway.com.
