Walk the promenade at Sunset Park on any evening this month and you'll pass the Sousa Bandshell, watch the sun drop behind Manhasset Bay, and probably assume you're standing on town land. Most people do. It's the site of HarborFest, the free summer concerts, the model boat races at Baxter's Pond. It reads like municipal property because it functions like one.
It isn't. Sunset Park belongs to the Port Washington Water Pollution Control District, the same agency that treats the neighborhood's wastewater. The district was created in 1915, and when it built its first treatment plant along Manhasset Bay the following year, it wrapped a public park around the facility as part of the deal. More than a century later, that arrangement still governs who decides what happens to the park's basketball courts, its walkways, and its ballfields, and this fall it explains why the place looks different than it did last year.
A Park With Two Landlords, Sort Of
For years, day-to-day operation of Sunset Park's clubhouse sat with the Port Washington Police Athletic League, which ran youth sports programming out of the building. That changed after what district commissioners have described as a prolonged dispute, one that stretched through much of last year and led to leadership changes on the five-member board after Commissioner Joseph D'Alonzo replaced a previous commissioner following an election. The district regained control of the clubhouse in February 2026 and has said it now wants to work alongside a new nonprofit, Friends of Sunset Park, to manage it going forward.
Commissioners Melanie Cassens and Arduino "Eddy" Marinelli have been direct about what they want the space to become: a safer, more community-focused facility for children and families. Marinelli put it plainly: "We want to bring it back to its glory days."
That transition is why the clubhouse reopened on June 7, during HarborFest, with fresh paint, restored furnishings, and updated safety features, the first time the public had been let back inside since renovations began.
The Money Behind the Makeover
Here's the part that surprised me. None of this is being paid for out of the district's tax levy in any major way. The bulk of the funding is coming from the Jana Foundation, a philanthropic organization tied to the late local businessman Peter Dejana. According to district commissioners, the foundation has already donated approximately $183,000 toward the project, with more expected. Foundation members reportedly approached the district after finding handwritten notes Dejana had left expressing a wish to beautify the park.
That's an unusual way for a public recreation space to get funded. Most park upgrades in this part of Nassau County move through a town budget line or a bond vote. Sunset Park's next chapter is being written by a private gift to a sewer district, which is a detail worth knowing if you've ever wondered why some public amenities here seem to leapfrog ahead of others on no predictable schedule.
The scope of what's coming is real. Plans include a new basketball court, redesigned walkways using permeable pavers, native plantings replacing older beds, and a synthetic turf baseball infield scheduled for installation this fall. None of it required a referendum. All of it required one foundation's decision to write a check to a wastewater agency.
The Park That Still Runs the Town's Calendar
Ownership technicalities aside, Sunset Park remains the anchor for how Port Washington gathers. HarborFest, presented by the Port Washington Chamber of Commerce and the Town of North Hempstead, held its 34th annual Dock Day and Craft Festival on June 7 this year at the Town Dock, Manhasset Bay, and lower Main Street. More than 90 craftspeople and artists from across the tri-state region set up along the waterfront, and the Children's Model Boat Regatta returned to Baxter's Pond, where third graders who'd built their own boats out of recyclable materials raced them in heats. One vendor working the festival for the first time, a hot sauce maker named Michael, told Long Island Press it was his kind of afternoon: it gets the community out of the house.
The Sousa Memorial Bandshell, dedicated in 1967 and named for the composer who once lived nearby, still hosts a run of free concerts each summer, a tradition that predates most of the storefronts on Main Street by decades. Whatever happens with the clubhouse renovation, that rhythm isn't going anywhere.
What's Changed on the Waterfront Itself
The park isn't the only thing that's shifted along the harbor this year. The dining scene has filled in noticeably since Palazzo Ristorante Italiano opened at 286 Main Street, bringing wood-fired pizzas, handmade pastas, and a raw bar to what had been a quieter stretch of the strip. A short walk away at Safe Harbor Marina, Nino's Beach has settled into its spot as the harbor's newer waterfront Mediterranean option, with boat slips out front and the kind of open-air seating that makes a Tuesday dinner feel like a weekend. Neither restaurant is new enough to be a novelty anymore. Both have become part of the regular rotation.
And then there's Louie's Prime Steak & Seafood, which has held its spot on Manhasset Bay since 1905 and recently completed a renovation of its own, updating the interior and exterior while keeping the raw bar and dry-aged steaks that have anchored the menu for generations. It's a useful reminder that this harbor has always absorbed new arrivals without losing the fixtures that made it worth visiting in the first place.
The Saturday Habit
If you want the clearest evidence that the waterfront still runs on its own clock, look at the Farmers Market. It runs every Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., a schedule that started June 13 and continues through October 31, with local produce, artisan goods, and live music as the standing lineup. The season had three MEGA Market dates this year, on June 27, July 25, and August 29, each drawing a bigger footprint of vendors than a typical Saturday. Those bigger markets have already come and gone for 2026, but the weekly version keeps going into fall, which means there's still time to catch it before the season closes.
Why This Matters If You Live Here
None of this changes anything about buying or selling a home. But it does change how you might read the next round of announcements about Sunset Park, or about any public space in this district. The people voting on what gets built, and the people writing the checks to build it, aren't always who you'd assume. A sewer district commission and a private family foundation are currently doing more to shape the daily use of Port Washington's most-visited park than any town budget vote this year. That's the kind of detail that only shows up if you're paying attention to the harbor itself, not just enjoying it.
If you're weighing a move to Port Washington or already call it home and are thinking about what's next, the Fran Mazer team knows this stretch of the North Shore block by block, park commission and all. Let's Connect.
