To the Editor:
There’s a (not so) new tradition in town, and it’s called Karmacue. You won’t find “Karmacue” in the dictionary, but its meaning is: a rewarded state of happiness achieved while eating great BBQ for a great cause. The Alper’s Hardware family along with 10 dedicated teams of backyard BBQers, four food vendors, musical performers, many volunteers and thousands of festival-goers established this day as a new iconic Port Washington event.
Eleven years ago, Adam Novick, fifth-generation Alpers family member, decided he wanted to give back to Port Washington in a thoughtful and coordinated way. He created Karmacue and chose the Community Chest of Port Washington as the charity to donate to because it funds so many programs. Karmacue is a BBQ street festival with a competition component as teams of backyard BBQers smoke 1,320 portions of ribs for the crowd and vie for the title of Overall BBQ champion.
This year’s event—the 11th annual–held on May 19 (always the Sunday before Memorial Day weekend) was a blast. The weather was perfect, the music by Chuck Idol, Bach to Rock and Hat Trixx was so much fun and the food was amazing.
There is one thing I must apologize for…we ran out of ribs at 1:15 p.m. People come to taste the ribs and make their “people’s choice” vote, and when the ribs run out, they are robbed of their rights. I know. Here’s my answer: The amazingly wonderful BBQ teams cook 23 racks of ribs each (that’s 230 racks of ribs) for all those festival-goers. They spend hours seasoning the ribs, transporting their smokers and grills to Irma Avenue and arriving by 5 a.m. just to cook that many ribs. Simply put, I can’t ask for more.
Bareburger, The Grill Shack, Ralph’s Ices and Yummy Gyro cooked up yummy eats and each made donations to the Community Chest. Dvora Troshane of SoulShine did face painting and crafts. Falconers supplied a balloon arch; The Town of North Hempstead closed the street and provided the Showmobile for the day. Chef Stephen White was the work judge and Robyn Croutch was the judging coordinator.
When I sit down to my desk on the Monday morning following Karmacue and I think back on the exhausting day, all that springs to mind is the conversations I had with the BBQ team members and volunteers. They weren’t just happy to be there; they were grateful to be doing their part to help the People of Port. Adam Novick puts in countless hours to make this event great and he’s thanking the Community Chest for what it does. The teams spend days prepping and cooking and they’re thanking me.
When I am tired of all the negativity and all the struggles we have, all I need to do is remember everyone from Karmacue — what a fabulous crowd of dedicated volunteers. What a great event! Thank you, Adam. Not only is this a huge donation to the Community Chest ($7,500 this year), it provides much needed moral support.
Thank you to the Port Washington community and all the volunteers for supporting another fund-raising event for the Community Chest. You are examples of our motto: The People of Port Helping the People of Port.
Julie Meer Harnick
Executive Director
Community Chest of Port Washington
