By Nitya Wanchoo

Live at Five is best summarized with two words: Family Fun. The Long Island Science Museum outdoor concert series has been going strong every other week for two summers now, and they’re only getting better.

The four-hour event is packed with outdoor opportunities for families to enjoy themselves in a festival-style amphitheater. A show-mobile is set up in front of the Manhasset Bay and there’s open space for kids to run and parents to set down their chairs. Surrounding the arena, there are a handful of markets set up on tables representing local businesses and food trucks for drinks, dinner, and dessert.

From 5 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. the Long Island Science Museum gears the fun toward the children. Then the band of the night takes over and performs until 9 p.m. with a few breaks. Throughout the evening, families watch the sunset together and relish the live music and finger food.

This series was brought to life by a committee of eight: Francine Agosta Furtado, Judith Heller, Kristen Laird, Cynthia Litman, Hildur Palsdottir, Cathy Riva, Josh Speisman, and Lauren Summa. They dreamt up the idea during the pandemic and coincidentally held the first Live at Five on the day the mask mandate was lifted, as if to celebrate the return to normalcy with safe entertainment.

On Aug. 11, Kristen Laird, executive director of the Long Island Science Museum, and Cynthia Litman were running the show.

The night started, as usual, with a science experimentation for the children. This week’s how-to was candle making. Then right on schedule at 6:30 p.m the Dave Diamond band took the stage. They played for most of the rest of the night, with a short break for tug of war around 8 p.m.

The food trucks and vendors, along with the band of the night, are rotated to ensure that the shopping and eating experiences don’t get worn out. The only exception to this is the Bubbly Bar truck and Mel, the ice cream truck, which are all-time favorites. The Aug. 11 Live at Five hosted a pizza truck, an American food truck, Port Salt Cave, and the Manhasset Bay Protection Committee, among other small business and non-profit organizations.

The Dave Diamond band, together since 2009, is composed of seven members from all over Long Island who perform throughout the tri-state area. The leader, Dave Diamond, is a local Port Washington resident. They played at Live at Five once in 2021, and they came back to play again in 2022. The band played two sets. The first was about “sixty percent original music”, which, according to Diamond, falls under the genre he likes to call “Funky Americana.”  The second was mostly Talking Heads covers in preparation for a show in East Hampton this weekend.

Litman stopped by to say a few words. She summed up Live at Five perfectly: “Good food. Good music. Good community. Gorgeous view. Amazing sunset.” She added that one of the benefits of Live at Five is that it’s bringing in younger kids to the Long Island Science Museum, which has been around for generations.

When asked about her favorite part of the event, she said that she likes watching everyone have fun together. Then she added, “Honestly, I like when I can’t tell who’s having more fun, the kid or the adults.”

The Long Island Science Museum’s Live at Five plans to keep elevating their game. “We’ll be doing it forever and ever and ever, hopefully,” Litman said.