August 14, 2007. A benefit of being the grandson of a media exec: Colin's name is already in print. Check out this article from the Sag Harbor Express. This year was our family's 50-year anniversary of vacationing in Sag Harbor. Though Kerry and I missed the festivities, we were there in spirit. Congrats Kerry H. and Matt!

THE SAG HARBOR EXPRESS
ISSUE DATE: 8/09/07 August 2007
50 Years of Summers
By Kathryn G. Menu
When "outlaws," as they are affectionately referred to, marry into the McElroy clan they must concede to one iron-clad agreement in the marriage contract: to spend the first two weeks of August in Sag Harbor with the rest of the family.
The contract is part of a 50-year tradition for the McElroy family, which has three generations and close to 200 family members, including 46 nieces and nephews and 79 grandchildren, celebrating the ritual this week in Sag Harbor and Noyac, with favorite beach locations on Long Beach in Noyac and Mecox Beach in Bridgehampton. The ages of this year's group range from one to 84.
It's hard to miss the tribe on Mecox Beach. They take up a large expanse of beachfront, with colorful umbrellas and tents, several circles of family members making camp together as their children frolic with each other in the waves, play kadema and beach baseball.
Over the course of 50 years, proposals of marriage have been made, births celebrated and laughs shared, whether on the beach, or during the annual golf outing the family takes at Goat Hill, or the Shelter Island Country Club, as it is also known.
This year is no different. Christine Grealy Brown, whose mother is a part of the sisterhood that conceived the tradition, is expecting her grandson, Colin, to be born any day now in Boston, Massachusetts. The coincidence that the fourth generation will make his debut in August, a special month for the family, is not lost on Brown, who expects Colin to don a swimsuit during next year's festivities.
And on Monday, cousin Kerry Houlihan accepted a proposal of marriage from her college sweetheart Matt Salvatierra on Circle Beach in Pine Neck, Noyac. It's one of several engagements over the last 50 years that has been made in Noyac, and is likely, not to be the last.
It all began in 1957, when sisters Ann McElroy Grealy and Margaret (Peggy) McElroy Schum, and their husbands Marty Grealy and Harry Schum were looking for a new vacation destination to escape the heat of the Bronx in the summer season.
Having spent their childhood and part of their adult lives summering in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, a beach locale was a must, said Ann, and the old summer haunt not an option as the beaches continued to erode on the Jersey Shore.
In 1957, Marty, who passed away in 2004 at the age of 81, related the family's trouble about finding a new summer retreat to a fellow member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation while investigating a bank robbery on Long Island.
It was this man that would introduce the McElroy family to their new retreat in Sag Harbor, but with one caveat: that they would agree to never tell anyone else about the region, as he feared it would become overrun and cease to be such a special place.
That summer, the Grealys and Schums packed their broods up and headed for beach bungalows in Pine Neck. The girls' parents, Molly and Jim McElroy joined the vacation and a tradition was born.
The family agreed to keep their promise and hold the secret of the wonders of the region close to their hearts, but they did share the discovery with other family members. Soon, brother Jack and his family joined them each summer, followed shortly by brother Ed and his clan, sister Agnes Hagan and her children, cousins Ann and Pat McKenna and their brood of five kids, the Schums' sister Pat Barrett and her 10 kids and brother Jack's in-laws, the Hanrahans, and so on and so on as the years passed and the family grew in leaps and bounds.
Over the next 50 years the family had ballooned from a group of 20 to a group of 100 and then close to 200. Both the Schums and the Grealys bought homes in Sag Harbor and Bridgehampton to ease the burden of renting each year.
The rest of the family members, including 21 additional McElroys from Michigan who made the trek to the East End to celebrate the 50th anniversary, take rooms at Baron's Cove and the Sag Harbor Inn, with others renting in Noyac.
The family has great appreciation that the tradition has lasted so long, bonding cousins and nieces and nephews from other areas of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Connecticut, South Carolina, Massachusetts, Virginia, Maryland and even California. In addition to commemorative t-shirts, with the family motto, coined years ago by Marty: "Who's got it better than us?" the family held a special celebration on Wednesday night at St. Andrew's Parish Center.
On Friday, its to Goat Hill, where members will vie for the Mecox Cup, an antique purchased originally for one of the beach homes, which was deemed, well, not so attractive, and donated to the golf tournament.
The Mecox Cup is handled like the Stanley Cup, explained Mike Schum. The winning foursome shares it for a year, required to bring it to special places in their hometowns and photograph the moment for posterity's sake.
But golf aside, its Mecox Beach and the family tree, which has been kept in record by Ed "The Youngest of the Old Folks" Gould, that is truly important to the family, come rain or come shine. "We've been very fortunate," said Ann. "We're all close, we're all good and healthy."