Village Residents Celebrate Founder's Day

Childhood memories and appreciation of what Babylon Village is all about were the focus of presentations and speeches during the Founder's Day event held Saturday.

Local residents had the opportunity to tour three historical institutions, the Conklin House, Old Town Hall Museum, and the Babylon Village Historical & Preservation Society, and sit in on nostalgic talks of growing up in the village and learning about notable residents who once called Babylon Village home.

The event, a collaborative effort among three community organizations, went so well that it's going to be an annual event.

"It was kind of an experiment," said Historical Society Vice President Judy Skillen. "We had a great turnout and we are planning to make it an annual event, with new speakers and topics next year."

At the Historical Society, Alice Zaruka, Babylon Village historian, remembered famous village resident and Long Island planner Robert Moses and TV personality Bob Keeshan, otherwise known as Captain Kangaroo.

She noted their community activism, recounting how Keeshon was happy to play Santa at the Babylon Yacht Club Christmas party.

Mayor Ralph Scordino spoke about his childhood  in Babylon Village and West lslip, sharing memories of when he and his neighborhood pals would spend the day riding bicycles, playing pick-up sports games and picking blueberries in the woods around the fledgling suburban developments.

"We need to see more of kids enjoying what we have to offer locally," he said during his talk at the historical society. "We didn't have so many activities and organized sports back then and we still learned a lot and made great friendships."

Scordino also noted that residents who donate back to the community and value what the village provides is what makes the village unique.

"More young families are moving in and we need them to start getting involved and giving back the community," he said.

Scordino called the event "an opportunity to swap stories, a lost occasion in our busy daily lives" and many residents with widely varying ages were eager to reflect on their own memories and hear others.

Earlier in the day, speeches were given by life-long residents including Suffolk County Legislator Wayne Horsley, who spoke at The Conklin House about the history of the historical landmark and early Babylon, respectively.

Babylon Town Supervisor Steve Bellone spoke about the old town hall building, and Babylon Town Historian Thomas B. Smith reflected on the hotel era of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

At the Babylon Town History museum, an ongoing project to record and present oral histories of Babylon residents with notable or unique recollections of the area, is still accepting submissions from interested storytellers.

The event was jointly organized by Karen Petz at the Conklin House, Mary Cascone, town archivist at the Town of Babylon History Museum, and Alice Zaruka and Judy Skillen at the Historical Society.