Sunday, May 20, marked the date of Port Washington’s tenth annual Karmacue, hosted by Alper’s Hardware Store. The event was held on Irma Avenue, next to the Alper’s location on Main Street.  All money raised from the event was donated to the Port Washington Community Chest.

At Karmacue, the main event was a barbecue, wherein eight different teams made up of friends, family, and coworkers from the Port Washington area competed to win the title of the best barbecue at the festival.  While all the teams wanted to win, they were all there with the overall goal to support their community.

“Karmacue really shows how close-knit our town is,” said sophomore Valerie Mondschein.  “Obviously there is competition, but it is all friendly and for the overall benefit of our town.” 

The cooks arrived early in the morning to start preparing their food, which included chicken and ribs, and presented them to a panel of judges later in the day.  At the end of the event, the judges named a lucky team the barbecue champion of Port Washington.

For those visitors who were not as interested in barbecue food, there were plenty of other local restaurants that sold food at the event.  Bareburger, Yummy Gyro, Schmear Bakery and Ralph’s Italian Ices helped to ensure that there was a food option for everyone in attendance.

Karmacue also had arts and crafts activities provided by Soulshine Art Studio and Initial Stop, in addition to music from HatTrixx, Chuck Idol and Friends, and Bach2Rock.  These proceeds are planned to be donated to the Community Chest.

“There are so many town businesses working together in order to create a fun experience that will bring in money for our community.  I don’t think many other towns have something like this,” said sophomore Rachel Bernstein.

It was clear to anyone who attended Karmacue that Port Washington is a town full of small businesses that are willing to work together to support and unite the entire community.  In previous years, Karmacue has helped to bring in as much as $55,000 to support Port Washington.

“I have been to this event in previous years, and it was a lot of fun.  It was great to see so many people from around town come together to support our Port Washington community,” said sophomore Julia Oppenheim.