A common theme throughout many of my columns over the past three years has been what makes the Farmingdale area so unique; the downtown area, the people and the special bond that we have as a community. Last Thursday was another day that once again reminded me of just how special our town is.

My evening village calendar had me scheduled for a ribbon cutting and an appearance at the final Village Pops concert of the season in the Village Green. My first stop was Viva Juan, the new restaurant that opened on the north side of town. The restaurant is just north of the railroad tracks across from the Inn on Main. I met owner Ernesto Perez, his wife Christina and their son Ernesto, Jr. I was joined by Deputy Mayor Joe Rachiele and Trustee Patricia A. Christiansen. Before we performed the ceremonial ribbon cutting we received a quick tour, a fast drink and some samplings of their wonderful food. Ernesto explained how excited he was to finally open and how he so much wanted to open here in Farmingdale. Ernesto owns two other restaurants out east and he feels that Farmingdale will be his most successful. His genuine hospitality was very refreshing and I was sorry to have to leave much too soon to get to the next event on my schedule. We took our picture, promised to be back many times and rushed down Main Street for the beginning of the concert.

As I sprinted across the green I could not help but notice a table with three boys selling lemonade and cookies. I could not stop as I needed to get to the Gazebo to make the opening remarks. Remarks that would include announcing that another new neighbor to our village, Sperry Credit Union was giving out free ice cream to all the concert-goers. But before I got to that duty, I needed to let Deputy Mayor Rachiele make an important announcement. It seems that the three young men selling the lemonade were doing so to help raise money to assist a cousin of a Farmingdale resident that was seriously injured in an accident. Joe alerted the crowd of the situation and the concert started. Before walking over to the Sperry ice cream cart, I stopped at the lemonade stand and met Anthony Risi, Dylan McIntyre and Dylan Cruthers. These 13-year-olds had decided to give up some of their summer time to man the booth and raise money for the family in need. I drank some lemonade, ate a cookie and talked to these fine young men. I later watched throughout the night as one by one the concert-goers stopped by, some buying the drink and others just putting some change in the bucket. They raised just about $300 that night, making me very proud of our community once again. I finally made my way over to the Sperry team and thanked them for adding to the festivities of the final concert. As I spoke with the Sperry representatives I was proud to listen to them tell me what a great town we have and how happy they are to take part in this event. Their genuine and sincere compliments completed an amazing night that once again made me very proud to be a resident and mayor of Farmingdale. It reiterated that we have a very bright future - as Ernesto said, "Viva Farmingdale!"