The VIP Kickoff Reception for sponsors of Oyster Festival 2002 took place at the Jakobson Pier. It was originally planned to be a cruise aboard the paddle wheeler Martha Jefferson, but she was pulled out at the last minute. The festival committee responded in a snap: they set up the VIP tent on the pier, between the tall ships HMS Bounty and the Kalmar Nyckel.

As sponsor representatives were arriving, at 6 p.m., the Kalmar Nyckel was coming into the Jakobson Pier. The ship fired its cannon in greeting and the oyster sloop Christeen sailing in the Beekman Beach cove gave an answering "pop."

In his welcoming comments, Oyster Fest 2002 Chairman James Cammarata said, "Corporate sponsors make events like this possible. Thirty-six different organizations participate in the Oyster Festival from the greater Oyster Bay area. There are also 18 different not-for-profit groups that gross over $500,000 in sales. Clearly that is not considering their expenses," he said. "Those include the Oyster Bay High School, the Oyster Bay-East Norwich Boys & Girls Club. The money went to local causes and even reached as far as putting roofs on houses in Mexico."

He thanked the many sponsors including: Newsday, The NY Islanders, North Shore University Hospital at Syosset, State Bank of Long Island, North Fork Bank, Lincoln, GEICO, Fleet Bank, Fritz Coudert for The WaterFront Center, LIPA, KeySpan Energy, American Land Services, the Oyster Bay Enterprise Pilot of Anton Newspapers, Discovery Credit Card, Hoffman Chiropractic, David Relyea, LIPA, NYS Lottery, Voice Stream, Specce Agency, State Farm and many other generous sponsors.

Mr. Cammarata also thanked the elected officials who attended: New York State Senator Carl Marcellino and Oyster Bay Town Supervisor John Venditto. Also attending were representatives of the Nassau County Police Department: Inspector Walter Haas and Deputy Inspector Steve Williams.

Over the years, various sponsors have had reasons to participate in the Oyster Festival. In one of the first festivals, Carlsburg beer had just come over from Holland and opened a distributorship in Hicksville and wanted to get their name out. Another year AT&T wanted to sign up phones in the 922 area for their long distance service. This year, North Fork Bank was scouting the area as they considered an Oyster Bay location.

Drew Crowley, North Fork Bank senior vice president and regional branch administrator said North Fork is a community minded bank. "This is an area with a great deal of potential and opportunity," he said. "At present there is no location here, but there is a definite maybe for the future," he said. North Fork has 170 branches in the Long Island and Manhattan areas. "As a community driven and relationship driven bank, this community is similar to those where we live. We thought this would be a good way to get our name known here. But either way, it's a great way to support the local nonprofits," said Mr. Crowley.