News Before You Buy Carpet An article from the World Floor Covering Association website. December 27, 2009 View PDF Here Called on the Carpet Local Trade Association helps Chamber of Commerce revive Italian Festival Patchogue, NY - October 10, 2009 This vibrant south shore community on Long Island about halfway from Manhattan to Montauk Point is becoming well known as a hot bed for music and the arts in addition to festivals such as several well attended parades and Alive After Five, which runs for four friday nights every summer, bringing thousands of visitors to Main Street and the largest downtown in eastern Long Island. This year, the Greater Patchogue Chamber of Commerce decided to resurrect a tradition that began in 1919 - the Italian Festival that was an annual event until 1962. The feast in honor of St. Liberata is an ancient tradition brought to Patchogue from Italy prior to World War I by natives of the province of Calabria who settled in Patchogue. Part of this year’s festivities included a Bocce Tournament, which the organizers wanted to do on the street if possible so it would be right in the midst of all the festivities. Festival organizer Tom Keegan, who is on the Chamber’s Cultural Heritage Committee, turned to Christopher Capobianco, who owns a Patchogue based sales and consulting business in the commercial floor covering industry and serves as Executive Director of The Long Island Floor Covering Association (LIFCA), a trade association of dealers, distributors, manufacturers inspectors and cleaners. Together, they figured that since a regulation Bocce court is 12 x 60 and carpet comes 12 feet wide, if a donor could be found then the court could be rolled out wherever Mr. Keegan wanted it. He sent out an appeal “Carpet Donation needed” to the 400 names on the LIFCA e-mail list and before long a reply came back from one of their members. Mohawk Carpet donated a brown cut pile carpet that was perfect for the project and they shipped it to LIFCA member Fran Derby Floors in Patchogue in time for the festival. The festival and the Bocce tournament were a big success so Mr. Keegan plans to put the carpet into storage so that it can be used again as the festival continues on into the future Long Island Floor Covering Association Launches Consumer Website Patchogue, NY December 17, 2009 In the confusing world of purchasing floor covering products, its hard to know where to get information about products and even harder to find reputable dealers to purchase products and installation from. The Long Island Floor Covering Association launched a website this week, www.LIFloor.com to do just that. The site will educate consumers about floor covering products and help them find LIFCA members. LIFCA is an affiliate of the World Floor Covering Association (WFCA) so there will be links to educational articles from the WFCA site and as the LIFCA site grows, LIFCA members will add articles to the site. LIFCA was incorporated in 1958 with the mission of strengthening and improving the business practices, standards, professionalism and ethics of the region’s floor covering businesses. Their members include Commercial and Residential Dealers, Cleaners, Inspectors, Wholesalers and Manufacturers. They are headquartered in Patchogue, Long Island.