Oct. 13, 2026 by Cailin Riley, Sag Harbor Express

⬜️ When fall officially hits and the busy and lucrative summer season recedes further into the rearview, things slow down for both small business and restaurant owners in the area, which directly impacts the budgets of the people who work there.

East End food pantry directors know this as well as anyone.

Right now is the time of year when demand — which shot up and has only continued to increase since the pandemic — ramps up again, as seasonal work begins to dry up and many people struggle to pay for basic necessities.

To combat that, the Sag Harbor Food Pantry put together a new fundraiser: the inaugural Sag Harbor Supper Stroll. Set for Saturday, October 24, from 4 to 7 p.m., ticket holders will enjoy an evening featuring some of the best cuisine from eight well-known and well-loved Sag Harbor restaurants. 

Sen, Il Cappuccino, Lulu Kitchen & Bar, Tutto il Giorno, Back Page, Dopo La Spiaggia, K Pasa, Sag Pizza, Après Sagtown and Grindstone Donuts will all offer up signature dishes for ticketed guests who will make their way up and down Main Street sampling a wide range of options, from Japanese to Mexican, Italian, American and more. At each restaurant, guests will have a special passport book stamped to record their visit. 

To receive the Supper Stroll Passport Book, on October 24, guests will bring their ticket vouchers to volunteers outside Sagtown Coffee at 78 Main Street, between 3:30 and 5 p.m.

Passport Book holders may visit the participating restaurants in any order between 4 and 7 p.m. Each restaurant will offer a tasting of one signature dish. A Sag Harbor Food Pantry volunteer will greet guests at the entrance and stamp the passport books. A cash bar will be available at each restaurant, and the evening will conclude with a gathering at Après Sagtown for a complimentary drink and dessert.

The event is already sold out, but Sag Harbor Food Pantry Executive Director Terie Diat said she’s hoping it becomes an annual tradition.

Creating the supper stroll was the result of a brainstorming session among pantry volunteers. “We were trying to come up with a good idea for a fall fundraiser,” she said. “This is really the first time we’ve dipped our toe into doing a major fundraiser.”

That’s because it’s simply necessary.

The Sag Harbor Food Pantry is open 52 weeks a year, serving an average of 100 families a week, Diat said. “We see fewer in the summer, but at this time of year, it ramps up to more, as people start to lose seasonal employment. That translates to about 400 to 500 people in those families. It’s tougher than ever, with pressure on SNAP benefits, and the cost of gasoline and home heating, and the cost of groceries is so high. Everybody feels that. Our services are much appreciated by those who come in and have a need in our community.”

Diat said the new fundraiser is “as much about raising money to help support sustaining our operations as it is raising the awareness in the community.

“I’m not sure everybody realizes that we do have a need in Sag Harbor,” she said. 

Diat said she and fellow pantry volunteers were “really excited” about the extent of the support they received from the local businesses in the community for the fundraiser. 

“We’re so excited we got eight restaurants, as well as Sagtown and Grindstone for the after party, if you will,” she said. “It wasn’t a hard sell. The businesses were very generous and happy to support us, because they know it’s for a great cause. It supports people in our community, and it brings out locals to participate in the event. It brings the community together, in a certain respect, to participate in what’s starting to be the shoulder season, so it’s a great opportunity for folks to come back into local businesses if maybe they haven’t been out much during the busy summer season, and they can enjoy their favorite restaurants or try restaurants maybe they haven’t been to. We think it’s a win-win for everybody.”

Because this is the first year the pantry is hosting the fundraising event, they kept the number of tickets sold at a reasonable number, to get a feel for how things will go, but Diat said she is hoping that next year they can expand, so more people can participate.

For more information, visit sagharborfoodpantry.org.