Kings Park Diner Leads Community Celebration
Owner aids in St. Pat’s Parade and other events
By Chad Kushins
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Photo by John Gallagher, courtesy of the Kings Park St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee.In Kings Park, the month of March now brings a special and unique celebration to mark the beginning of spring – the town’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade. An event that finds residents and visitors alike lining the streets to march and become “honorary Irish,” the parade is a true community effort. For the past two years, however, very few would argue the fact that the efforts and leadership of one local business-owner has made a world of difference.
Named The Times of Smithtown’s Business Man of the Year for his community work in 2010, Kevin Denis is the well-known owner of Kings Park’s Professor’s Diner. Since taking over the popular Main Street eatery in 1991, Denis has been a vocal advocate for all-things Kings Park and its calendar of special events and celebrations. Come March, however, Denis assumes his unofficial role as a leading force in making the town’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade one of the largest and best-known community gatherings of its kind.
“This is a wonderful community in Kings Park,” Denis told Smithtown Matters. “Everyone is very supportive with what we’re doing and they love [the parade].”
Originally from West Islip, Denis married wife Linda in 1976, settling down in Kings Park to raise a family. Together with Linda and their four children, Denis became acquainted with the restaurant that he would one day own only a few years later, taking a job as a cook at the diner in 1979. Twelve years later, he bought it.
When a fire destroyed Professor’s Diner in 1993, Denis not only rebuilt the structure, but added a showcase for memorabilia and photographs of Kings Park history, creating a small museum of the town’s heritage for residents and visiting patrons to share. That gesture, coupled with the Denis family’s numerous efforts in helping local children and seniors, soon made the restaurateur a pillar in the community.
In 2010, Denis was the driving force in creating Kings Park’s first-ever St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which has rapidly become a point of pride among residents who lobbied for such an event for years. When hopeful Kings Park organizers searched for a common place in which hold their parade meetings, Denis allowed the regular meetings to take place in his restaurant in the months before the parade. Although the Town of Smithtown and the St. James hamlet had always held their own St. Patrick’s festivities for decades, Kings Park’s proud Irish had never organized such as event in their town – and the numbers pouring into the festival displayed the enthusiasm.
“We had something like 7,000 people come down to the parade last year,” said Denis. “I’ve been in this business for 24 years and I always thought that Kings Park was a very Irish town … During March, we offer specials on corn beef and cabbage and celebrated St. Patrick’s right here. Based on the feedback, I could never understand why the town didn’t have a parade of its own. [Kings Park residents] love this holiday and I asked myself, ‘Why has this never happened?’”
This year marks the organizers’ second parade celebration. In an effort to replicate the overwhelming number of people involved in years past and the parades’ recognized success, Denis is again leading the way to St. Patrick’s Day this month. A fundraiser, featuring the musical, “A Wonderful Life,” was recently held to raise money at the John Engelman Theater in Northport. Thanks to that event, $15,000 was raised using the performance’s ticket sales, raffles, and other donations.
“It’s been a lot easier to organize this year than last year,” said Denis. “Everybody wants this parade to keep happening and in having such a great committee to make such it does, we keep going forward.” According to Denis, this year’s parade will not only welcome back local schools and civic associations to march and participate, but the parade committee will be granting awards for the best float and decorated storefront.
Denis also supports local charity events such as Long Island Harvest, Angels Without Faces, the Airmid Theatre Company, the St. Joseph’s Church golf outing and countless other fundraisers providing charitable donations throughout the year, including the popular weekly car shows held each Thursday during the summer months. For his various efforts and achievements, Denis has been the recipient of the Dr. Robert Cody Award, the Kings Park Civic Association Humanitarian Award, and his 2010 title as “Businessman of the Year.”
Denis added, “Really what I’ve learned from the experiences it just to never say, ‘no.’ When people need help, or want to contribute and participate in any of our events – especially the parade – I’ve learned to always say ‘yes’ and bring in as many community members as possible.”
This year’s annual Kings Park St. Patrick’s Day Parade will take place Saturday, March 3rd, beginning at 12 noon on the corner of Lou Avenue and Pulaski Road; the parade is set to march down Main Street, to Church Street, to Old Dock Road and will end at William T. Rogers Middle School. Additional information can be found at www.kpstpat.com.