When Washington Post heiress Lally Weymouth last week sent out emails canceling her annual July 4 party at her sprawling Southampton home, she cast a veil over the entire Hamptons summer social season – the latest victim of the coronavirus pandemic.
Weymouth, a socialite and deputy editor of the newspaper, launches the Hamptons event which brings together hundreds of politicians, financiers and socialites around fried chicken, cornbread, champagne and American flag cookies to celebrate both his birthday of July 3 and Independence Day.
“Lally is hosting the big power party,” said a regular attendee who did not want to be identified. “It was always a highlight of the summer in the Hamptons because it’s always the big players who attend and it’s completely bipartisan.”
Two years ago, the first daughter Ivanka Trump danced among the guests, including Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer, former New York police commissioner Ray Kelly and filmmaker Steven Spielberg.
The Watermill Center, which hosts one of the most chic Hamptons fundraisers in the art world, has also canceled what would have been its 27th gala dinner and auction this year amid fears about coronaviruses. Last year, the fundraiser, which features resident artists from around the world who descend on the 10-acre campus each summer to create sculpture and performance installations and mingle with more than 1,000 patrons, raised more than $ 2.2 million at its fundraising dinner – which includes half the annual budget of the avant-garde art center.
“This is all very surreal,” said Erin Wainwright, manager of special events and fundraising at the Watermill Center. “Unfortunately, with so many artists from around the world and travel being impossible, we had to cancel the gala.”
The summer season is now in limbo as residents take refuge in their homes, an East Hampton resident told the Post. “Nobody is going to hire 10 servers to organize a party, and nobody wants to call in outside help,” he said. “No one sees anyone and everyone stays close to home with their family.”
Arty Dozortsev, whose company Ikraa Caviar operates quickly by providing caviar for Hamptons fundraisers, said most of the orders he had received were for “more intimate” dinners with people.
“It’s going to be different this year with people who don’t go to clubs and restaurants,” he told The Post. “No one is going to run from city to city like before and the parties are going to be really small.”
And summer residents set foot ashore during the weekends of visitors to the city. “I think the responsible thing to do is not to have visitors, especially those who ask to visit. No thanks, “wrote a user from the Facebook group” Hamptons Mom “last week.
Another replied, “I don’t want to sound harsh, but it seems obvious to separate this summer from previous standards.”
Hamptons hot spots have also been closed for the summer. Last week, hotelier Andre Balazs announced that he would close his exclusive Sunset Beach hotel and restaurant on Shelter Island – a celebrity hotspot that drew models and movie stars, including Christie Brinkley, writer Simon Doonan, designer Jonathan Adler, Leonardo diCaprio and Justin Bieber.
At Topping Rose House in Bridgehampton, a Tony boutique hotel that charges more than $ 1,800 per night for the weekend of July 4, staff take “extreme measures” to ensure customers are safe, including banning cleaning ladies to enter the rooms before 24 hours. after the departure of the guests.
The Southampton Inn, which charges $ 275 per night for a room, plans to reopen on May 20 after welcoming 60 nurses in the past few months who worked at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital at the height of the pandemic, according to its website Web.
Guests will be required to maintain a social distance between themselves and the hotel employees, with spaces marked with “pretty white chandeliers”, the website says. Customers will also receive beach bags containing masks and gloves. The on-site restaurant, Claude’s, will remain open and offer picnics to customers.
The hotel also has two thermal scanners that will be used to monitor the health of staff.
