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Maria Negron isn’t shy to admit it’s all about her.
“I’m a little selfish,” she says. “I love to make people happy; that’s my selfish feeling.”
So it wasn’t enough to ride the highs and lows of running a small business on Main Street in downtown Bay Shore.
The owner of Pride Embroidery got selfish and started throwing a customer appreciate barbecue four years ago — which started small of course.
It’s since grown, and grown, and grown.
This year she invited between 400 and 500 people to overtake her store, home and property, offering up free food, drinks and music to anyone who wanted Saturday.
“There’s no sign-in sheet,” she says. “We set up tents and people can come and go as they please. There’s plenty of people who show up that I don’t even know.”
Each year, well over 100 people, sometimes closer to 200, depending on the weather, stream in and out throughout the afternoon, she says.
Greaterbayshore.com was among the crashers Saturday.
Scroll down for photos by Michael White and Ron Monteleone (marked).
First photo: Maria Negron (far left) and with Customer Appreciation Day revelers Saturday.
