By Josh Halsey
What better way to spend the day after Thanksgiving: #OptOutsideFriday
Friday after Thanksgiving, the perfect time to get back on your feet and support our beautiful East End beaches! In the spirit of community engagement and environmental awareness, I jumped at the opportunity to pitch in with a group beach cleanup at Montauk Point. Â
The Eastern Long Island Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation hosted its annual “Opt outside on Black Friday” event, complete with crisp air and sunshine, not to mention one of the most spectacular views that Montauk has to offer while cleaning the beach!  With vehicle access to the beach granted through Montauk County Park, we drove a caravan of trucks to multiple locations along the coastline and collected an impressive amount of debris that had washed up this season. Â
Back at the parking lot just below the lighthouse, we combined the heaping mountain—ranging from a wide variety of domestic plastics to commercial fishing cages and equipment. It was quite a sight when we gauged its girth and then prepared the bounty to be trucked away for disposal at the local transfer station. Â
“I jumped at the opportunity to pitch in with a group beach cleanup at Montauk Point”
Josh Halsey
Closing the successful afternoon over hot cider and great conversation with live music in the background, I really couldn’t have asked for anything more to be thankful!