About Us
Our History
Over Labor Day weekend in 1994, several friends from the Bayport-Sayville area organized a day of music, food and fun. Held in the backyard of Bayport resident Brad Ringhouse, the event, which proved to be a rousing success, was aptly dubbed “Bradstock.”
With enthusiasm sky high, the all-volunteer organizers planned Bradstock II for the following Labor Day. However, two extra ingredients were to be added to the original, successful formula - a focus on our environment, and a determination to raise funds to donate to area organizations.
The good time had by all was to be complemented with a good cause supported by all. Which is exactly what has happened.
Building a Community
With the buzz of the first two Bradstocks encouraging new participants to join the cause, and the success of the festivals far surpassing what the organizers could have imagined, Bradstocks III and IV were held on the grounds of Meadowcroft in Bayport.
Artists came to display their work, not-for-profit environmental organizations set up informative, educational booths, and new musicians eagerly joined Bradstock‘s solid line-up of performers. Best of all, the events generated profits, as well as canned foodstuffs, which were donated and distributed to local causes.
Since those early years, our Bradstock family has grown exponentially. Multiple generations of Bradstockers now attend, and new festival goers are discovering this unique community, held together with a common love of music, the arts, a spirit of giving back, and most of all, a good time.
It’s now thirty plus years later, and the circle of kinship and belonging lives on.
Our Mission
Thanks to the generosity of the many friends of Bradstock, in the past twenty-eight years we have donated over $300,000 including $175,000 to Camp-Pa-Qua-Tuck.
Here are some of our other beneficiaries include the
- Long Island Maritime Museum
- Friends of Connetquot River State Park
- The Sayville Kiwanis Club
- G.R.O.W.
- WUSB
- They Often Cry Out
- The Unbroken Chain Foundation
- The Sayville Village Improvement Society
- The Bayport and West Sayville Civic Associations
- The Peconic Bay Keeper
Along with local food trucks, our friends from the U.S. Coast Guard Chief Petty Officers Association, man and woman the grills to keep us in grub over the weekend. The profits from the sale of the food goes to fund their own charitable cause – and they kick in a contribution to Bradstock as well.
Over these many years, the Bradstock organization has donated a mountain of food and ongoing monetary contributions to Island Harvest to help those less fortunate than ourselves.
We are confident that the Circle of Chiefs moves forward in a manner befitting the labor that we expend. May the circle be unbroken.
