Greenport celebrates 25th anniversary of Mitchell Park, hosts ice rink fundraiser in scorching heat

Celebrations were underway in Greenport Saturday to mark the 25th anniversary of Mitchell Park while looking to its future with a new push to revive a seasonal ice rink to keep the site active year round.

The community gathered in the waterfront park for a picnic with music and family activities, including a slapshot competition hosted by the New York Islanders. 

The event also coincided with the arrival of the U.S. Coast Guard Barque Eagle, visiting for the weekend as part of the national Sail250 project. Rob Lehmann of Greenport strolled on a pier with his family to get a closer look at the tall ship before heading to the picnic.

Growing up in Greenport, Lehmann, 34, said Mitchell Park was the backdrop of family memories he's now sharing with his wife, Melike, and their 11-month old daughter, Aurora.

"It's a hub for the community," he said Saturday.

Melike said life in the village would be "boring" without the park.

"I really enjoy summer because of the events, Shakespeare in the park, music every Monday, the carousel," she said. "I love that."

Despite sticky humidity and temperatures in the high 80s, many had winter on their minds as volunteers began selling raffle tickets to benefit the new ice rink.

The rink had been a winter fixture in the park since 2005, but hasn't opened since 2023 because of failing equipment.

Earlier this year, the Mitchell Park Ice Rink Celebration Committee launched an effort to raise $100,000 toward a new rink. Friends of Mitchell Park, a nonprofit that supports programming in the park, pledged to match donations up to $100,000.

Greenport was awarded a $1.2 million state grant for the project in 2024, but officials said fundraising will offset startup costs to unlock the grant money provided through reimbursement.

"It will be a huge amenity for the winter to draw folks into the village," Mayor Kevin Stuessi said in an interview. Initial funds will help with engineering and design plans, he said.

Lisa Gillooly, who co-chaired the celebration committee, said the campaign has raised $18,000 and has a $25,000 pledge from an anonymous donor.

"If we get this rink up and running, we are going to have a great opportunity for our local youth, and not to mention the other pull that it has for tourism, for our shops and our shopkeepers and our restaurants," Gillooly said in an interview.

The ice rink is one component of the four-acre waterfront park that opened in June 2001 and features a boardwalk and marina, antique carousel donated by Northrop Grumman, terraced amphitheater and camera obscura.

"It truly is an anchor to life and community in the village," Stuessi said, noting the efforts of his predecessor Dave Kapell and other locals.

The park property was once the site of Mitchell's restaurant, which opened in 1933 and was destroyed in a 1978 fire. A 2002 Newsday story described the bar as "frequented by the powerful and the meek. Walter Cronkite and Gov. Hugh Carey drank with local fishermen, who sometimes smelled of the morning's catch."

The property sat blighted for more than a decade and soon after taking office in 1994, then-mayor Kapell led an effort to acquire the site for about $1 million, demolish the building and dream up its future.

A primary goal was protecting public access to the waterfront, Kapell said in an interview, recalling past proposals to redevelop the site into a hotel or other commercial business.

"Before the park, the only way you could get down to the water in Greenport was on private property," he said. "It's very gratifying to see how the park has managed to engrain itself as the center of village life, for local people and visitors alike."

Tours of the Barque Eagle continue Sunday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. For more information or to donate to the rink effort, visit greenporticerink.org.