Over 40 years ago, as Bob Freidah remembers it, Dan MacLean – a member of the Sag Harbor Lions Club – used to sell Christmas trees out of his gas station, located across the street from The Corner Bar near the old railroad bed.
“One year, Dan came to us and said, ‘How would you like to take this over’,” remembered Freidah.
And so, a longstanding Sag Harbor tradition was born. Starting out at the old railroad station on Ferry Road and eventually moving to its permanent home next to the Windmill on Long Wharf, for 40 years residents of Sag Harbor and beyond have bought their holiday trees from the Sag Harbor Lions, who man the station day and night right up until Christmas Eve.
“I haven’t been yet,” said Freidah, a 50-year member of the club. “But I am signed up. I have sold a lot of trees over the years. It used to be quite a mess. We didn’t know what we were doing and the trees were just terrible. It was always fun, and we have come a long way.”
Melvin Jones, a Chicago businessman, charged his fellow businessmen to better the communities they lived in and founded Lions International in 1917. The organization currently boasts 45,000 clubs worldwide with1.3 million members in 205 countries.
“We are the largest service organization worldwide,” said current Sag Harbor Lions President Ernest Schade.
Sag Harbor Lions was chartered on March 5, 1954 and adopted the Lions International mission to work and support the visually impaired, promote education, and aid those in need throughout the community. Currently, the organization is made up of 50 members, although not all are active in the club.
“We also support youth projects and few people know this, but on an international basis, the Lions provide assistance following world disasters, whether it be a tsunami or hurricane,” said Schade.
A member of the Lions for 30 years, Schade said he was concerned a couple of years ago with the club’s dwindling numbers, and began outreach to revitalize the organization. While the organization boasts a number of longstanding members, — like Freidah, Bob Espach and Gabe Schiavoni have also been Lions for roughly half a century — Schade became concerned the organization would begin to flounder without new membership.
Schade personally sponsored three new members, and the club was able to recruit men like Angus Bruce, Robert Loache, Fred Marienfeld, Terry Molyneax and Robert Arcs, to name a few, to join their ranks.
“The East Hampton and North Sea clubs have brought women into the organization, which is way overdo,” said Schade, who would like to see female Sag Harbor Lions Club members. “Business women who want to participate and help, whether with the food pantry, by collecting eye glasses or fundraising would be welcome.”
Schade said he hopes the youth of Sag Harbor will also consider the Sag Harbor Lions when looking to volunteer their time for the betterment of the community.
“I think there is a need for community involvement in all of us,” said Schade. “It just needs to be groomed.”
“Most of us have served as president over the years and Ernie is really coming at a good time because the club needed new blood and he provided that,” said Freidah. “Another thing Lions International encourages is having a cross section of the community represented in your club. When it comes to fundraising, that can really help.”
Freidah was invited to be a Lion 50 years ago and was drawn to the organization’s call to help the blind, the needy and especially the youth of the community, which Freidah said is where the Sag Harbor Lions have focused their energies – a plus for the former school teacher.
“It is a small group,” he said. “We tend to have members like myself who stay for a long time. The activities are such worthwhile things for the community that you feel really good about what you are doing.”
While the Lions aid in a number of community events annually like their St. Patrick’s Day party and fundraiser, the Christmas tree sale is their main source of revenue, which is used to provide college scholarships, aid the food pantry and even individuals who need help to heat their homes.
“The trees are all balsam firs from Nova Scotia, although this year we were a little shortchanged on the larger trees,” said Schade. “We do have great loyalty from our customers. We have people who travel all the way from the North Fork and Shelter Island to support us, and every dime goes back to the community.”
“We have a pretty traditional group of people that wouldn’t think of buying a tree anywhere else,” said Freidah, who then laughed out loud, remembering the Lion’s original charge of erecting the Christmas Tree in Otter Pond.
“We started that a ways back,” he said. “It would sink, it would blow over, the lights would go out and people would complain; but you know, it was tradition.”
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