Unofficial business: Well done, dear reader! You’ve reached the end of another busy workweek – and not just any workweek, but the last full workweek of Summer 2026.
Of course, this is technically false: Not only does Summer officially run through Sept. 22 in our lovely Northern Hemisphere, but unofficial Summer doesn’t end until Labor Day, which arrives late this year (Sept. 7, which is as late as it can be, for those keeping score). But Long Island public schools open next week and lots of professional folks are taking PTO leading up to the long holiday weekend – making this, for all intents and purposes, the season’s last full workweek.
Red, red wine: Going to your head every Aug. 28.
Young at heart: And you handled it beautifully, intrepid innovator! As a reward, a regular-sized weekend to cool down them jets – but first, this engaging week-in-innovation review, starting with International Read Comics in Public Day, an Aug. 28 observation encouraging us to unashamedly show off a graphic-novel inclination some might deem childish.
For the record, comic books represent a global $18 billion industry (and rising fast) while “comic book movies” have generated five of history’s top 10 box office performances – so, if comic books are immature, well, consider us proudly puerile. (And why is today the top day for public comic book disclosure? Read on, true believer!)
Oh, grow up: If you think comic books are nerdy, you’re going to have real problems with National Bow Tie Day, an annual salute to one of the fashion world’s most polarizing accouterments.
Fortunately, maturity and refined tastes both rebound in today’s holiday menu, with National Red Wine Day (celebrating vino fermented with grape skins, seeds and stems still attached, giving it a crimson color, complex palate and tongue-puckering dryness) and National Cherry Turnover Day (the perfect half-sweet, half-tart complement to that after-dinner merlot) both served on Aug. 28.
Take your time: Also delish (and arguably enjoyed more by mature gastronomes) is Lea & Perrins Original Worcestershire Sauce, which was introduced on this date in 1837 – not by an innovative chef, but by English chemists John Lea and William Perrins, who took the slow road to immortality.
Ain’t that America(n): Also taking its time to get things right is Scientific American magazine, which first embraced the scientific method when Vol. 1, Issue 1 hit newsstands on Aug. 28, 1845.
Dreamscape: King’s historical “I Have a Dream” speech drew record crowds to the National Mall (without having to lie about it).
Forward march: It doesn’t get any more American than Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, the capper of the historic March on Washington, delivered 61 years ago today to a crowd of more than 250,000 people gathered near the Lincoln Memorial – the largest crowd ever assembled on the National Mall, until President Barack Obama’s first inauguration set the new record in 2009.
Floatation device: On that same date – Aug. 28, 1963 – the world’s longest floating bridge, the pontoon-supported Evergreen Point Bridge, opened to vehicular traffic in Washington State, connecting the City of Seattle to suburbs on the east side of Lake Washington.
Sandwich board: And it was Aug. 28, 1965, when the very first Subway sandwich shop opened in Bridgeport, Conn.
Originally dubbed “Pete’s Super Submarines,” the store was founded by 17-year-old entrepreneur Fred DeLuca and medical doctor Peter Buck, who invested $1,000 in the startup. (Renamed “Subway” in 1972, franchised in 1974 and acquired for $9.6 billion in 2024 by private equity firm Roark Capital, the brand currently boasts 37,000-plus stores in more than 100 countries – though its domestic footprint is steadily shrinking.)
Page-turner: American artist Jacob Kurtzberg (1917-1994) – the influential comic book icon known best as Jack Kirby, co-creator of Captain America, The Fantastic Four, Hulk, Iron Man, Black Panther and many other medium mainstays – would be 109 years old today.
Great Scott: Hamilton was smooth as silk in the 1984 Winter Olympics.
Also born on Aug. 28 were British automotive and aviation pioneer Charles Rolls (1877-1910), the famous co-founder of automaker Rolls-Royce Ltd., the first aviator to fly a nonstop round trip across the English Channel and the first British pilot to die in a plane crash; American illustrator, children’s author, painter and lecturer Tasha Tudor (1915-2008), a beloved award-winner who illustrated nearly 100 children’s classics; British electrical engineer Sir Godfrey Newbold Hounsfield (1919-2004), a neuroimaging pioneer who shared the 1979 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for co-creating computerized axial tomography; American retired figure skater Scott Hamilton (born 1958), a four-time world champion, 1984 Olympic gold medal winner, World Figure Skating Hall of Fame inductee, generous philanthropist and long-term cancer survivor; and Canadian singer-songwriter Shania Twain (born Eilleen Regina Twain, 1965), ranked among the best-selling women artists in Country music history.
Behind the numbers: And take a bow, Sheryl Kara Sandberg! The American technology executive, philanthropist, author and venture capitalist – a former World Bank economist who served 14 years as Meta Platforms’ COO, before partnering with husband Tom Bernthal on a successful private VC firm – turns 57 today.
Send birthday wishes for Facebook’s first-ever COO to editor@innovateli.com, where we invest heavily in your news tips and calendar events.
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BUT FIRST, THIS
Let’s be Frank(lin): A renovated office building featuring coworking spaces and other modern amenities has opened for business in Garden City.
Behold, The Franklin, a 19,160-square-foot, three-story structure situated on in-demand Franklin Avenue and ceremoniously welcomed during an Aug. 20 ribbon-cutting ceremony hosted by multiple property owners and the Garden City Chamber of Commerce. Managed by Regus – a subsidiary of Switzerland-based International Workplace Group, a global administrator of flexible workspace solutions including shared meeting rooms and virtual offices – The Franklin is a Class A renovation of a circa-1950s, long-vacant office building whose rebirth was “years in the making,” according to a statement from co-owners and longtime development partners Scott Minuta and Matt Schwartz.
Featuring flexible suites, state-of-the-art lounge areas and virtual office memberships, the renovated boutique property kicks off with 14 tenant businesses (including multiple attorneys) and is already “bringing new energy and opportunity to our town,” noted Garden City Chamber of Commerce President John Wilton. “It is a wonderful addition to our business community,” Wilton added. “We look forward to supporting The Franklin and its tenants as they grow and become an important part of our local business community.”
The ballads of Billy: “Billy Preston: That’s The Way God Planned It” is one of 43-feature length films set to be screened during LIMEHOF’s annual film festival.
Screen shot: One of Long Island’s biggest and most prestigious film festivals is growing in size and scope.
The Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame has announced the feature lineup and event schedule for its second-annual Music Documentary Film Festival, scheduled for Sept. 25-27 at the Stony Brook-based museum. The three-day festival – replete with live musical performances, filmmaker panel discussions, audience Q&As and more – is slated to screen 43 feature-length music documentaries exploring the music and social relevancy of the Beatles, Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Peter Gabriel, Kenny Loggins and, of course, favorite Long Island son Billy Joel, among dozens of other beloved solo performers and dynamic bands.
The impressive slate – featuring documentaries produced domestically, across Europe and around the globe – includes three world premieres and 16 films making their Long Island debut. “We’ve brought together an extraordinary variety of movies and our hope is that people will come for one film and find themselves wanting to stay for three or four,” noted LIMEHOF Music Documentary Film Festival Executive Director Tom Needham. “If you love music, there’s really nothing else quite like spending a day surrounded by great music documentaries, filmmakers and fellow music fans.”
TOP OF THE SITE
By air and by sea: Voices History Anchor Tom Mariner soars from the past to the future with the Curtiss-Wright Corp., one of Long Island’s most influential aerospace/military/energy manufacturers – and proof positive of the importance of innovating with purpose.
Get on it: Did your innovation team see the bit in the latest subscriber-only Monday Calendar Newsletter about the … wait, what? They didn’t see the Monday Calendar Newsletter? Because they’re not on our subscriber list? Well, don’t let that happen again – Innovate Long Island newsletter subscriptions are always easy, always free.
ICYMI
People with learning disabilities have new socialization and educational opportunities thanks to an ambitious autistic artist with strong maternal instincts and an unwavering desire to promote communication through art.
BEST OF THE WEST (AND SOMETIMES NORTH/SOUTH)
Innovate LI’s inbox overrunneth with inspirational innovations from all North American corners. This week’s brightest out-of-towners:
From Buffalo: Blend-it-yourself milkshake maker f’real partners with Oreo on the rollout of its worlds-collide Golden Oreo Birthday Cake Milkshake.
From Indiana: Bloomington-based educational publisher Solution Tree champions intensive behavioral support in its new professional-learning book.
From California: Los Angeles-based cannabis lifestyle brand Khalifa Kush, founded by cultural icon Wiz Khalifa, squeezes out a hemp-derived, THC-infused orange juice.
ON THE MOVE
Donghee Yvette Wohn
+ Donghee Yvette Wohn has been named the inaugural chairwoman of the new Department of Technology, AI and Society in Stony Brook University’s College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. She was the director of the Department of Informatics and director of the Social Interaction Lab at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
+ Melville-based H2M architects + engineers has announced three new hires:
- Nicholas Grossjung has been hired as a project engineer. He was a design engineer at Charles G. Michel Engineering in White Plains.
- Madison Page has been hired as a staff designer. She was architectural intern at Garten Associates in East Northport.
- Madison Templeton has been hired as a staff designer. She was a shift manager at SoBol in Commack.
+ Jonathan Isaacson has been hired as a partner at Uniondale-based Ruskin Moscou Faltischek, focused on general commercial litigation, construction litigation and professional liability defense litigation. He was a partner at Kaufman, Dolowich, Voluck & Gonzo in Woodbury.
+ Drew Bach has been hired as counsel at Ronkonkoma-based Campolo, Middleton & McCormick. He was first vice president/Bank Secrecy Act officer at ConnectOne Bank in Melville.
+ Michael Lieberman has been hired as an associate at Hauppauge-based Certilman Balin Adler & Hyman. He was an associate at Kosakoff & Cataldo in Melville.
Like this newsletter? Innovate Long Island newsletter, website and podcast sponsorships are a prime opportunity to reach the inventors, investors, entrepreneurs and executives you need to know – on Long Island, and soon, across New York State (just ask SUNY Old Westbury). Gregory Zeller can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Goodbye, Dolly Edition)
Long live the queen: Parton’s passing saddened legions of loyal fans.
Tumble outta bed, stumble to the kitchen: How “9 to 5” became the working woman’s anthem.
Coat of many colors: Not just the Queen of Country – a true humanitarian hero.
Across the aisle: Left, right, center … everyone loves Dolly
Island in the stream: Please continue supporting the innovative institutions that support Innovate Long Island, including SUNY Old Westbury, which works hard to keep its graduates – and the whole of Long Island – relevant in the modern innovation economy. Check them out.
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