Today, I'm speaking with Tracy, the founder of A North fork Affair. Tracy embraces the entrepreneurial spirit by creating experiential events that support the North fork community. A North fork Affair creates the type of events that Tracy herself wanted to attend from farm to table dining experiences, chunky blanket making, and a new social media series. 

Win two tickets to an upcoming event with A North Fork Affair on Long Island by joining our email list.

To get things started Tracy explained that she is also the founder of a company called TK New York, a large scale event company. They produce events like the New York City Wine and Food Festival, the Women in the World Summit and the Harlem Meetup Festival with Marcus Samuelsson to name a few. A North Fork Affair started last April prior to the pandemic and she's thankful it because it actually gave her something to turn her efforts towards. Tracy believes events going forward are going to be smaller and local.

I was impressed with what Tracy had to say about the North Fork of Long Island and how well she knows the area which means she knows her customers. Her family has lived on the North Fork since the 1940s.

Creating Experiences

"I wasn't finding  an easy way to infiltrate the groups of friends that were already here. So I thought, what do I want to do? I want to do crafts. I want to sit at a long farm table out in the middle of a field and have an amazing, you know, local made meal." says Tracy

This is what A North Fork Affair is really about. Bringing people together for experiential events that let them interact and socialize. With so many of us stuck to our devices and indoors due to COVID, many people are craving ways to get out and stimulate their brain. Their first event was part of craft series that was a floral arranging class.  

While running large scale events has its challenges, you usually have teams of people coming together to make the magic. When you're a startup on the North Fork, everything falls on your shoulders. It's the little things like needing a tent to build a kitchen outside in the middle of the forest.

One of the more interesting bits is how Tracy incorporates her family's China into the dining experiences. Tune in around 14 minutes to hear all about it!

Embracing the Entrepreneurial Spirit

Tracy, like many entrepreneurs had lots to consider when the pandemic hit. Her first thought was to actually take a break which I can completely appreciate in the early days of uncertainty amidst the COVID-19 outbreak. As it became clear this outbreak wasn't going anywhere, Tracy and her team were trying to find ways to make their signature events carry on. Tracy was recruited to be on a committee with the New York city mayor's office to develop the plan of what event re-entry is going to look like.

Then came the virtual events like her popular chunky blanket class but in true entrepreneurial fashion, Tracy recognized the change in seasons and appetite for what customers wanted.  From there she started her date night series 

Restaurants on the North Fork

I can't give any spoilers here but if you want to hear Tracy's choices for her top restaurants on the North Fork tune in to the 25 minute mark where she describes her favorite new hot spot out in Orient Point. Then we head back to Greenport where she tells me about a spot for oysters she takes all of her visitors.  Every place has a water view and one of her top picks has all windows so you can view the sunset over the water.