IT WAS A PERFECT summer day for the 11th annual All Village Celebration on the lawn of the beautifully restored Conklin House. Gene Turner, this year's winner of the Nathaniel Award in recognition of his years of volunteer service to the community, was surrounded by his children: daughters Christine and Susan, twin sons Matthew and Gregory and a host of close friends. Of course our Mayor Ralph Scordino was there, and members of the Board of Trustees: Alice Vanderveldt, Debbie Basile, Tony Davida and Kevin Muldowny. Got a chance to say "hi" to Louise and Marty Kennedy, Judge Dan Loughlin, Senator Owen Johnson, Connie Hoernel and her lovely daughter Ann, Marie and Bill France looking great in spite of Bill's arm being in a cast, Barbara and Gil Schlerfe, Katharine Fallon, Libby Orr and Shirley Skeffington. Everyone was enjoying the delicious food donated by our generous Village merchants. This year's raffles and door prizes were a complete sweep for the Village. Mary Rinklin won the basket of perennials, "Jug" Warren took home a brand new fishing pole and the "summer in Babylon" award which featured a host of events in the Village, Larry Nye won the dinner for 12 donated by Deliciously Different. Our Village Treasurer, Joan Crockett won the overnight stay in Greenport and Laura Gallagher won the beautiful Don Eckelberry print. So many people worked so hard to make it all possible, we wish we had room to thank them all. We missed Mary Howell who could not be with us at this event. Mary has been one of the strongest supporters of the Conklin House over the years. Many thanks and congrats to everyone for a perfect day.

EVERYBODY LOVES MARGARET. We knew her first at La Grand, and now we see Margaret Mehrer at Captain Bill's. At our recent "Busy Women" luncheon Margaret had a very painful experience when her knee cap was dislocated and she was taken by rescue to the hospital. But the good news is she's feeling much better and recuperating at her Village home.

A GREAT LOSS FOR OUR VILLAGE. Babylon Village lost one of their very best when Pat Mack passed away last week. Pat constantly gave of her time and her considerable talents to the Village she loved. She was a charter member of the Beautification Society and worked for the last 30 years on all of their many projects to improve our village. She also volunteered as a board member of the Babylon Village Historical Society and was a long-time member of the Architectural Review Board. Her friends celebrated her remarkable life at a gathering at her home held by her sons Russell, Bruce and Ferris last week.

TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT for a special evening at the Venetian Yacht Club, when the Babylon Village Chamber of Commerce party will be held in honor of Marc and Alan Howard of Plesser's. The party starts at 7 p.m. and you'll enjoy raffles, entertainment, food and much more. So come on down. Tickets will be sold at the door ($50 pp). For further information, call Mary Adams at 631-661-7200, or Donna Consola at 631-587-5612. All proceeds will benefit the Babylon Village Chamber of Commerce so they can continue to promote business in Babylon Village.

THE END OF AN ERA. The last graduation ceremonies of the Hewlett School in East Islip were held on June 22. The class of 2006 will mark the end of a lot of history of the beautiful private school many Babylonians were students there in years past and have happy memories of their days spent studying and learning from the dedicated faculty. But times have changed, and there just were not enough students enrolled for the years ahead. Mrs. Cecila Teng has been the president for the last years, and now the property has been sold. The good news is that the vintage "Main House" will remain on the grounds and private homes will be built on the property.

KUDOS TO THE CHAMPS. The West Islip Lacrosse team defeated West Geneseo by a score of 7-6 to win the N.Y. State Championship.

ALL IN THE FAMILY. It was a nice surprise when the scholarship committee of the "busy women" reached a decision on this year's winners of the $1,000 awards. One of the winners, Vernon Amith, was the brother of last year's winner. The awards were announced at the annual schoarship luncheon held at Captain Bill's last week. The committee, chaired by Nancy Swan with Mary Ellen Sullivan, Libby Orr and Bettie Hanse also selected Tracey Vielman for the honor. Vernon will attend Suffolk Community and Tracey will start at Villanova next fall. We congratulate the winners and wish them well in their chosen careers.

THANK YOU NANCY NEWTON for the excellent job as president for the past two years and very good wishes for the new President Elizabeth Karoly, Vice President Claire Meirowitz and Recording Secretary Rosemary Reina.

AND SPEAKING OF CLAIRE, we have news of another honor for this busy and talented gal. Claire has been named president of the Long Island Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators.

SEND GET WELL WISHES to Alice and Will Zaruka yes both Alice and Bill have been in Good Sam, Alice for a same day surgery and Will for a longer stay. Saw them at the Conklin House and they're both doing very well.