Ditch Witch, Lili Adams' landmark food cart, opened for its 17th season Memorial Day weekend to the relief of a tight-knit community that rallied to keep her from being replaced by a $17-a-roll lobster truck.
"I'm really so grateful," Adams said—raising her voice over Ditch Plains beach regular Hawaiian Ed, who was making noise on his ukelele. "I really want to give everybody the most I can this year, just as thanks for everything they did for me. My customers saved me."
In response to The Feast's first report that the local town board voted to give Ditch Witch's longtime spot to a lobster truck, Christian Iooss, a Manhattan resident who's been going to Ditch Plains most of his life, created a "Save the Ditch Witch" Facebook page. The page listed the contact information of local officials who were so inundated with calls, the town board reversed its decision and granted Adams the right to operate through the rest of the summer.
Opening weekend, surfers and families shouted "Congratulations!" and "God bless!" to Adams, who worked the stand with her son Grant, his "College Fund" jar prominently displayed on the counter.
Though she says she'll finally stop teasing her kids about Facebook, she has no plans to create a page of her own. The cart, she points out, has never advertised, never printed menus and never bothered with phone numbers or e-mail addresses.
"Going to a food cart is about walking up to the food cart, and that's how we'll maintain it until we no longer do it."
According to one "Save the Ditch Witch" fan, Frank Forbes, Adams doesn't need an online presence to create community. "Long before Facebook, MySpace and Twitter," he wrote, "the Ditch Witch was, is and always will be the original Montauk social networking site."
Find Lili Adams, the Ditch Witch, in the Otis Road parking lot off of Ditch Plains Rd., Montauk, NY; No phone. Surfers and fishermen arrive at 6:30 a.m., though she doesn't officially open until 8.
Related Stories on The Feast:
Ditch Witch Kicked Off Her Lot
Ditch Witch and Beach Dog to Stay
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Video by Amanda Martinez
For more Feast Hamptons stories, go to www.thefeast.com/hamptons
