The City Island Chamber of Commerce has named the neighbors and businesses it will honor at its 2026 Annual Dinner Dance, a list that runs from a restaurant group on the Avenue to a martial arts instructor and several community volunteers. The honorees will be celebrated on Saturday, November 14, at the Harlem Yacht Club.

The chamber is also welcoming two newer businesses with recognition certificates, and it has opened its annual drive to pay for the holiday lights that go up along City Island Avenue each winter.

This year's honorees

The chamber hands out a set of named awards each year. For 2026, the list is:

  • Monica Glick of M4 Consulting Services receives the Sam Bierman Award for Business and Community Service. M4 Consulting Services is credited as a collaborator on the chamber's current website.
  • Sammy's Restaurant Group receives the Tom Ceretta Award for Business and Community Service. At the chamber's clam chowder contest on September 20, Sammy's Fish Box at 41 City Island Avenue took second place in the Manhattan clam chowder category.
  • Kwanjanim Edwin Castro of City Island Mixed Martial Arts receives the Catherine Scott Award for Achievement. The award carries the name of the author of the local history book City Island and Orchard Beach, which the chamber cites on its own history page.
  • Judy Judson receives the Skip Giacco Award for Community Spirit.
  • Michael and Hailey Clancy receive the Exemplary Community Service Award.
  • Caitlin Stiene-Forese of Medicare Resource Group receives the Community Service Award.

New on the island

Alongside the awards, the chamber will present new business recognition certificates to two recent arrivals: 2 PaiZan's Pizzeria Cucina and Direct Choice Realty. 2 PaiZan's has already pitched in on island events this fall. The chamber credited it, along with Lickety Split Ice Cream and Clipper Coffee, with donating supplies for the September chowder contest on City Island Avenue, which went ahead in the rain on the stretch of the Avenue leading to Hawkins Park.

The dinner dance

The Annual Dinner Dance runs from 6 to 10 p.m. on Saturday, November 14, at the Harlem Yacht Club, 417 Hunter Avenue. The chamber describes the evening as a sit-down dinner with seafood and carving stations and live music. Tickets are $95 per person and are sold through a form on the chamber's website, where buyers list the full names of everyone attending. The event also produces a printed and online journal, and ad space is available through the same page.

The chamber holds the dinner dance each year to honor island businesses along with business and community leaders. Last year's edition took place at the same club in November 2025.

Help light City Island Avenue

The other item on the chamber's fall calendar is Light the Holidays on City Island, a fundraising drive that pays for the strands of lights strung along City Island Avenue for the holiday season. Anyone can take part, whether a business or a resident who simply likes walking the Avenue in December. A full strand of lights costs $850 and a half strand $425, and the chamber also takes gifts of $100, $50, $25 or any other amount. Contributions are made through a form on the chamber's website.

How to get tickets or chip in

Dinner dance tickets ($95) and journal ads are available on the City Island Chamber of Commerce website under the Dinner Dance post, and lighting contributions are collected on the Light the Holidays page. Questions can go to the chamber at 718-885-9100. The dinner dance is Saturday, November 14, 6 to 10 p.m., at the Harlem Yacht Club, 417 Hunter Avenue.

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