Landmark on Main Street celebrates 20th anniversary

Joe Nikic

Twenty years of entertainment and community activity were celebrated Sunday at the Landmark on Main Street’s anniversary party in Port Washington.

“It turned to be everything we wanted it to be,” Landmark Executive Director Laura Mogul said. “It was all of the organizations of the community center working together and people were just exploring everything we had to offer.”

The historic building at 232 Main St. was originally built in 1908 and served as the Main Street School until 1985.

After the threat of demolition, the building was saved and in 1995 re-opened as a multipurpose community center.

The bottom floors now serve as a multipurpose community center featuring the Jeanne Rimsky Theatre, the Doctors’ Gym, the Children’s Center, the Parent Resource Center and the teen center known as the PiT.

The rest of the building serves as a 59-unit affordable senior citizen residential building.

Sunday’s celebrations included various theatre, musical and dance performances, as well as fun and games for kids like arts and crafts, video game competitions and storytelling.

“Really what we wanted to have happen here was for people to explore everything that goes in the community center portion of our building,” Mogul said. 

The event ended with a wing-eating contest sponsored by Wings Plus, which awarded gift certificates to the winners. 

“An important part of what we do is providing free and low-cost entertainment to the community,” Mogul said. “To do all of that means we’re constantly looking for ways to really relate to the community.”

She added that the organization tries to satisfy the needs of people from “ages two to 92.” 

Mogul also said “a couple of hundred” people attended the celebration, which was a joint effort to put together by herself, Port Washington Children’s Center Director Donna Preminger, Parent Resource Center Director of Operations Carole McDonald Gilmour, and PiT youth council teen center Director Mike Donnelly.

While the first 20 years of Landmark on Main Street’s community involvement have been a success, Mogul said, the organization will continue to grow and attract more members of the community.

“I think if the first 20 years are any indication, we are just going to be able to continue to do what we’re doing for the community and do it better. Be able to reach out more and have an audience expand for our ticketed programs and just continue to use every inch of this building to the max,” she said. “It’s a historic building and there’s no place to expand anything. We will continue to find more and more creative ways to integrate ourselves into the community and perform as leaders in the cultural arts.”

Share this Article