Parade, fair aim to unite community

The second annual Huntington Awareness Day Parade and Fair hits the streets Saturday with organizers hoping to continue the momentum of uniting the community at last year's event.

The parade kicks off at 10 a.m. at New York Avenue and West Hills Road, and ends with a fair in the municipal parking lot on New York Avenue, between Railroad and Church streets.

The grand marshal of the parade will be Jack Abrams, a former educator in the Huntington school district for three decades and namesake of the school closed to classroom use over concerns about violence in the neighborhood. The event was started last year in an effort to heal divisions in the community about the closure of the Huntington Station school.

"When I had questioned why I was the grand marshal, they said it's based on name recognition and my name has become a common one since the school was closed," he said. "I guess that's the whole idea of a grand marshal -- someone that people know that has been involved in some fairly important aspect of the community."

Also being honored is Walt Whitman High School senior Jalen Sair, 16, of Huntington Station, who this summer helped save another teenager from drowning during a party.

"It's an opportunity for people to see there are large groups of people who are very caring and active," Town Supervisor Frank Petrone said. "The station is really the melting pot of the town, it's the transportation hub, it has great history and everyone has to go through the station to get to the village. Everyone is part of it. "

The parade will include bands, floats, vintage cars, service groups and local merchants. The fair will feature performances by local artists, a participatory chalk art activity, crafts and services.

Dolores Thompson, an organizer of the event, said, "Huntington Station is alive and well. We are working together to bring back what we had many years ago."