Most of that damage was done in the wake of a single winter storm last December that triggered rapid erosion on Fire Island and appeared to undo large parts of that decade-long restoration project in a matter of months.
The barrier island off the coast of New York is more than a vacation community. It is what stands between rising seas and one of the most densely populated coastal regions in the country.
From the ferry, it looks like a sculpture. However, walk a bit further along the plank-lined path and a greater functionality comes into view. The eye-catching, waist-high structure encrusted in colorful mosaic tiles is actually a public water fountain, the first of its kind in Fire Island Pines. STAR Fountain is the brainchild of artist TM Davy, and it also serves as the centerpiece of Trailblazers Park, a new permanent public space which opened in the Fire Island Pines Harbor this past July. Depicted on STAR Fountain in vibrant shades of brown, gold and blue are Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, two trans activists and people of color who together launched the Street Transgender Action Revolutionaries in the 1970s, following the riots at Stonewall Inn in ‘69. Many point to Johnson, who was Black, as a key initiator of the uprising that took place on that fateful final Sunday in June, and thus her likeness is set in stone to commemorate her resilience.