Lakeview community celebrates. Find out more.

A basketball tournament, a parade, a celebration of community — this year’s Lakeview Day was all that and more.

“The community came alive,” said the event planner, the Rev. Sheila Thomas, of St. John’s Baptist Church, which hosts the gathering every year. “Everybody’s welcome. It’s about coming and being a part of it, and just enjoying the day.”

Hundreds came to Harold Walker Memorial Park on Aug. 5 to celebrate their town with music, food and good company. The Lakeview Fire Department, the Nassau County Police Department, the NAACP and other groups manned booths at which they connected with their neighbors and told them about career opportunities. People participated in a small but lively parade — the police horses were a particular hit with the younger kids.

“It makes me feel so good to see them,” Thomas said of the police and fire departments. “To see them talk to young people, tell them there’s opportunities for jobs. Sometimes different communities might not know, and here’s a table that says ‘take five minutes and let’s talk about it.’”

The annual celebration wasn’t always known as Lakeview Day. When it began in 1997, it was simply a basketball tournament. Young people in the community were craving a chance to have an organized competition with their friends, and instead of dreaming about “what ifs,” they made it happen. The leadership of St. John’s was so impressed by the young people’s initiative that the church began hosting the event in 1998, and has done so ever since. Thomas said that young people were the ones who started calling it Lakeview Day — so that’s what it became.

“It’s what they’re saying, and this is their community,” Thomas said. “This is your community, this is your voice, and it’s coming from you all, so we’re going to make it happen.”

James Swittenberg was one of those young people. When he was 15, he was in that first group of kids who made the basketball tournament a success. Though he moved to Texas in 2018, he still returned to Long Island this summer to take part in the Lakeview Day festivities, 26 years after the inaugural event.

“It’s gotten real big from when I first participated,” Swittenberg said. “It shocks me that it’s gotten that big, because I remember when it was real hard for them to get people to participate. And now it seems like every year they get more and more people participating.”

Swittenberg said that that wasn’t the only pleasant surprise. Harold Walker Park is different, too. The blacktop, the gates, the openness of the park are totally new to Swittenberg, and are a stark contrast to the small courts he and his friends played on in his youth. It’s a testament to how much Lakeview has grown over the years, and how dedicated its residents are to improving the community.

In a true full-circle moment, Swittenberg’s son, Justin, also came from Texas to see the celebration for himself. Justin, 17, is only a little older than his father was when Lakeview Day started.

“They’re very welcoming and friendly,” Justin said of the people he got to know. “While I was there, I had a good time.”

“He gets to see the stuff I did,” his father said. “It’s a huge deal in the Lakeview area.”

“It’s small, but it’s real community-oriented,” James added of the community. “Everybody knows everybody.”

The participants also celebrated people who go above and beyond to make the community special. Resident and longtime Lakeview advocate Scottie Coads, who is also the chair of civic engagement for the Lakeview NAACP, was the grand marshal of the parade. Jake Scheiner, a candidate for the Nassau County Legislature, presented a proclamation to Thomas and her father, the Rev. William Thomas of St. John’s, for their dedication to organizing Lakeview Day every year.

“For so many years now, he and Reverend Sheila Thomas have taken the initiative to host Lakeview Day,” Scheiner said of William Thomas. “It’s a recognition and honor of his decades of service to the Lakeview community — everything he’s done to help people and advance the causes of the community.”

“It’s great to be in the company of a community that really is tight-knit and cherishes one another,” Scheiner added “It’s a celebration of community and the rich history of Lakeview.”

“To see how it has changed,” Thomas said. “A lot of the older people — now their kids are there, their grandkids are there. It’s just awesome to see it come alive.”