Family, friendship and tradition. These are the things that are close to my heart and bring about the best memories and stories. This story begins a long, long time ago, in 1970 to be exact, in a little town named Ipswich, Massachusetts. My grandfather Frederick R. Kelley and his wife, Maryalice Kelley, were out for an afternoon drive. Leaving the city and heading up the coast was a nice treat for them. Along the way they discovered a small peninsula along the Ipswich River dotted with tiny cottages, fishing shacks, and clam digger camps. Little Neck is named after the special Ipswich clams which coincidentally have short necks. As they drove around, they decided this would be a great place to bring their children and future generations. However, they were a young couple at the time and did not have a lot of money. So, they put their home ownership dreams on hold and decided to rent on Little Neck for the first couple of seasons. After several years of saving and working hard, my grandparents were able to pull together the $13,000 to buy a little green cottage, their dream escape. This is where my story begins. This is a story filled with crazy characters, annual traditions, and friendship. This is also a story about a tight-knit little community where people have strange nicknames and even stranger backstories to their lives.

Every summer the community hires a couple of teenagers to run the “coach” program. Little Neck kids can got to coach every day at the park. There is pick-up basketball, capture the flag, base running, predator prey, and my favorite – four square. Every morning there is a camp run by two coaches where all kids ages three to 18 go over to the ballpark from nine in the morning until noon. This is great so that the parents can relax and have free time when their kids are over at that park playing games such as dodge-ball kickball, and even red-rover. In the afternoons, there are swimming lessons. These lessons are very important if you live on Little Neck! Some days, swimming lessons are at the beach and some days they are at the dock – it all depends on the tide. If you live on Little Neck, you better be a good swimmer and not afraid of the water. The currents are strong and swift. So strong that we have an annual “float” down. This is one of our traditions. In August, the whole community comes to float down the river in memory of Mrs. Watson, who used to float in the river every day until she died. She wore a silly shower cap and said the water was good therapy for aches and pains. So, we all wear silly shower caps and head down the dock to “float.” This annual memorial float can be scary, with hundreds of people in the water and the tide pulling you so fast that you might just bump into a boat on a mooring. You have to be alert and pay attention. Eventually, the community started to have a boat cop to watch us float down the river so no one would hit us or come close to us with their boats. Which brings me back to swimming lessons and coach. Like I said, you want to be a good swimmer if you live here; it is in your best interest for survival.

Another interesting tradition on the Neck is Irish Night. Now, not everyone is Irish but for one night a summer we all are. It is very interesting that we have Irish Night but no Italian Night or a French Night. This tradition was started by Big Mike and his father Johnny Jigs. As I said, Little Neck is filled with characters with funny nicknames. Big Mike and Johnny Jigs had the idea to start a fundraiser for the community. As the name implies, Big Mike is one of the biggest guys I have ever seen. His personality matches his size. Sometimes the community needs money to repair the playground or the parking lots. So, they started an Irish Night raffle. Selling only 100 tickets for $100 a piece, the raffle raised over $10,000 for the community. This helps out the kids and the coaches program a lot. The only problem is, Irish Night tends to get pretty rowdy. There is lots of beer drinking and rowdy Irish music. So of course, we put Big Mike at the door to make sure no one gets out of hand. Johnny Jigs looks just like his name sounds, like a little leprechaun. He was in charge of the money and the raffle prizes. If you can picture Johnny Jigs running around in a green outfit with handfuls of cash prizes then you have a good idea of what Irish Night is all about. Irish night is an event held once a summer and this is usually the parents' favorite night because they all party and bond with each other.

As my sister and I grew up, my parents were torn between where they would spend their summer vacation. Little Neck is where my Mom grew up and where she spent most of her summers as a child. She was really not open to going anywhere else. My dad's side, on the other hand, would spend their summers at the world famous Hampton Beach. You probably can’t find two places any more different than Little Neck and Hampton Beach. Where Little Neck is quiet and slow paced, Hampton is loud and bustling. Little Neck is on the racing Ipswich River with a swift current and Hampton Beach has the large rolling waves and wide sandy beach. At night, you can find families by their campfires on Little Neck whereas at Hampton Beach families are walking the strip or stopping into the video arcades. In Little Neck there are no restaurants, nowhere to get a piece of the world famous Blinks Fried Dough, my Dad’s favorite. Instead of buying cottages, my father's family has rented two cottages owned and operated by the same people who own my dad's favorite restaurant, McGuirks. The McGuirks were always so close to my dad and his fellow family members as they all lived around each other in this cottage complex. So, the decision was a tough one. Where would they spend their summers? Would they stay on the quiet, family-oriented little island of Little Neck or go to the bustling, busy streets of Hampton Beach? I am happy to say they have figured out a way to do both. Even though we own a house in Little Neck, we still take day trips to Hampton.

Mary, Lainie and Ruthie – these are the queens of Little Neck. They are the grandmothers of some of the biggest families on the Neck, and they have some funny traditions of their own. Every Tuesday morning is coffee hour for the ladies. If you bring $1 and your own mug you can drink as much coffee, eat as much pastry, and fill up on as much gossip as you can handle. When I was young, my friends and I were a little mischievous, and I always felt like the ladies at coffee hour were talking about us. There are about 40 women who go to this coffee hour every week. They rotate who is going to host week to week. Along with coffee hour, they have knitting club, book club, Monday lunch, and sometimes even Thursday cocktail hour. I think the average age for women in this club is 70years old and they are mostly widows. They have a great time together, a lot of laughs, and they share a lot of gossip.

Every summer I hear people say “We should write a book about this place,” or “You can’t make this stuff up.” Maybe it’s because we are together during summer and everyone is in a good mood, but it constantly feels like someone is celebrating something. When summer comes to an end it can be very sad and depressing. But it’s nice to know that we have somewhere to return to, somewhere traditions exist and live on, and somewhere that grandchildren and grandparents can make wonderful memories together. This is the place where I have met all my best friends and have made so many connections that I will have for the rest of my life. I am so grateful for my grandparents for finding this place.