Long Island summer preparations at Jones Beach, Oyster Sloop Priscilla and Adventureland

As temperatures outdoors hover in the 40s, Melonie Cunningham sits at a sewing machine to attach a white ribbon to the inside of a canvas beach umbrella so that once temperatures hit the 80s families visiting Jones Beach can sit in the shade.

That umbrella is one of about 500 that Cunningham, a New York State Parks employee, is helping to repair — the white ribbon ties the canvas to the metal spokes of the umbrella.

While it’s still spring, employees at Long Island outdoor venues are working behind the scenes to ensure Long Islanders have a wonderful summer — putting a new 44-foot-tall mast on the Oyster Sloop Priscilla in West Sayville, constructing the frame of the new Wave Twister ride at Adventureland in East Farmingdale, and repairing umbrellas and sprucing up the iconic lifeguard boats for Jones Beach.

“Summer is around the corner. There’s a lot to get ready,” says Hank Leggio, assistant park director at Jones Beach State Park.

The Oyster Sloop Priscilla

This is the first time in 23 years that the Oyster Sloop Priscilla has been out of the water for more than a week and a half, says shipwright Josh Herman, a boat builder who is leading a $200,000 restoration of the historic ship that takes Long Islanders on two-hour sails on the Great South Bay through the summer.

Priscilla, an 1888 Oyster Sloop that’s designated a National Historic Landmark  , is getting a new mast, a new deck, a new paint job and more at the Long Island Maritime Museum in West Sayville. For instance, 3,200 screws were replaced in the hull of the 60-foot boat, Herman says.

“The project began in earnest in October of 2024,” says Terry Lister-Blitman, museum executive director. The goal is to finish by the end of June. Museum visitors are welcome to watch the restoration project happening during weekday museum hours, she says.

“We’re using modern techniques not to depart from tradition, but to improve on it,” Herman says. For instance: “The sails are completely traditional looking, but 100% modern material.”

The old mast has been sliced into about 100 rounds that local artists will paint and the museum will auction to help cover the cost of the restoration project; watch the museum website for upcoming details on that, Lister-Blitman says. Donations are also being accepted, she says.

Adventureland

The hulking neon green steel frame that will support the new Wave Twister ride is in place at Adventureland, which is awaiting the delivery of the rest of the ride from overseas. “We’re waiting on tracks to come from Switzerland,” says Adventureland president Steve Gentile; the tracks will be bright blue. “We should have everything in-house to start erecting everything by April 23,” he says. The goal is to have the ride operating by Memorial Day, he says.

Meanwhile, three new buildings for new games are also in place nearby, as is a new food stand called “Legacy Bites,” which will offer fried items such as churros, fried Oreos and chicken nuggets, fingers, strips and wings. “We can start cooking,” Gentile says. Brick has been laid on the ground throughout the area. “Everything is starting to come together,” Gentile says. The area is still fenced while the work is being completed.

Jones Beach

Cunningham works with lifeguard Tom Meehan to repair umbrellas that have torn or rusted over the summer. They remove the striped canvases and wash them, Cunnigham patches what needs to be fixed, and Meehan replaces rusted poles and metal webbing and reattaches the canvas so the umbrellas are ready to be rented for $15 a day. They also repair umbrellas used by lifeguards.

Across the Field 10 maintenance yard, lifeguard Gregory Mills is sanding by hand one of the iconic white rowboats with Jones Beach painted on the sides as part of its preparation for patrol and rescue. He plans to have all six such boats ready for the season.

“They are big pieces of equipment that require a lot of maintenance and upkeep,” Mills says of the job he calls both laborious and tedious. “Every nut, bolt, piece of Fiberglas on each boat has been meticulously gone through and either fixed or completely restored as if the boat came off the assembly line 30 years ago.”

Mills says he takes pride in keeping the boats ready in case they are needed for a multi-person rescue, and also because they are such a visible part of Jones Beach and its history. “Thousands of people have photos of them in albums or on their cellphones,” he says. “They are our most visible piece of equipment other than us on those stands every day.”

Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.