Dan's Papers' 60 Summers Celebration Begins in 2019
Keep the champagne corks popping! The holidays are done, sure, but now that the calendar has flipped, we have entered a very special year for Dan’s Papers. Unbelievably, in 2019 we are celebrating our 60th summer (not to mention 80 for our founder, Dan Rattiner), and we want you to come along for the biggest bash the Hamptons has ever seen.
It’s going to be a year full of special events—including our big 60 Summers Gala at Gurney’s Montauk Yacht Club on the first weekend of August—and we will be raising many a glass to and with you, our readers. You are the ones who have made every year memorable since Dan published his first eight-page publication, The Montauk Pioneer, on that fateful July day on The End so many years ago. That summer, and that publication, proved to be just the beginning of an incredible ride.
Along with the parties and soirées, there will be special editorial looks back as we showcase the local writers, artists, businesses and larger-than-life characters who have been part of this journey. In print and online every week, we’ll relive such favorites as Dan’s famous hoaxes, getting inside scoop on the origins of the Hamptons Subway, the Ecuadorian Eel, the Flight to Portugal and those beloved South African lions.
We’ll revisit interviews with the famous, and sometimes infamous, folks who have shared their stories in our pages. We’ll share photos and videos that have captured the magic and memories of events from the Artists-Writers Softball Game and the Hampton Classic to the PotatoHampton race (remember that one?) and Taste of Two Forks.
Dan’s Papers has always had as much a sense of history as a sense of humor, and we’ve taken great pride in being interwoven in the fabric of the local communities we all call home. We were there for the saving of the Montauk Lighthouse and the sale of the most expensive home in American history, for the Hamptons premiere of a little film called Jaws and the North Fork planting of Long Island’s first vineyard, and this year we’ll be taking you back to revisit these and countless other memorable moments of the past 60 years. With a nod to the historical resonance of the people, places and happenings that have defined the East End, we’re looking forward to 2019 being the Summer of Icons, during which we will be shining the spotlight on a very select group, in words and images, new and vintage. Past and present will come together like you’ve never seen before, and it’s all going to be a blast!
As you’ve surely seen by now, we’ve started the revelry by publishing a one-of-a-kind, limited edition commemorative book—60 Summers: Celebrating Six Iconic Decades on the East End (you can get your copy at FriendsofDans.com). We’ve taken 60 of our favorite covers from over the years and mixed them with reminisces of the Hamptons and the artists themselves, stories about how Dan’s Papers got its name and why we started putting remarkable artworks on the front every single week. There’s a far-from-trivial collection of trivia, and a Hall of Fame recognizing 60 artists and 60 writers whose creative endeavors right here on the East End have been, and continue to be, an inspiration every step of the way.
So grab your beach blanket and your sunblock. Pack up your bottle of rosé and that lobster roll. And come join us for the unforgettable year that is 60 Summers.