Frank S. Costanza

They would float up the coast to Maine. There, they would catch the westerlies that would blow them the 2,500 miles to Europe. Up there, in the beauty and the silence, you hear the true noise of the sea coming up at you. There was plenty of food on board, stocked with salamis and cheeses — fatty food to keep them warm and filled — water, Champagne for celebrating, of course, plus some emergency supplies. But it turns out the crew of The Free Life, a seven-story high Roziére balloon that lifted off from a field in Springs 50 years ago this week, would not need it.

At the age of 15, when Jackson Foo Wong came out and told his parents that he was gay, his father, Richie Jackson, a TV and theater producer based in New York City, couldn’t have been more delighted. That’s because for Jackson, being gay had long been an important defining feature of his own life.

The BCK Fine Arts Gallery in Montauk presents its next exhibition, “Fathers and Daughters,” from September 16 to October 7. This group exhibition consists of the paintings of two men, Albert Kresch and Leland Bell, who met in New York City in the early 1940s. Accompanying these are the works of their daughters, Temma Bell and Elizabeth Kresch. Born decades apart, these two women followed the career paths shared by both their fathers and mothers.