Acme Smoked Fish Corporation Gives Back to Brooklyn

Acme Smoked Fish Corporation, a four generation family-owned and operated business located in the heart of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, will sponsor TASTE Williamsburg Greenpoint, an outdoor culinary celebration of North Brooklyn's local food, beverage and community. The event, taking place on Sunday, May 16th from 12:00-4:00 PM on North 11th Street between Berry Street and Wythe Avenue, will benefit the building of the Northside Town Hall Community and Cultural Center.

Smoking fresh fish in Greenpoint for nearly a century and employing hundreds of New Yorkers, Acme has weathered all the changes affecting North Brooklyn during this time-including the 1990s property abandonment and industrial decline and the aughts residential building boom. Now a fast-growing company, due, in part, to the newfound appreciation for locally-sourced ingredients and authentic, tradition-based artisanal foods, Acme is sponsoring TASTE Williamsburg Greenpoint in thanks to the local community.

"During the past two decades in North Brooklyn, local businesses like Acme were challenged wherever there were residential neighbors. Acme could have faced pressure from those hoping to transform all loft-industrial property into luxury housing, but the community stood behind Acme and its right to stay and grow in the neighborhood," said local restaurateur and TASTE Williamsburg Greenpoint organizer Felice Kirby. "The very residents who helped fuel the gentrification of the area came to value Acme's presence in the neighborhood. Acme's story is a fantastic example of industry and community coming together. We are especially happy that the company has decided to give back by generously supporting TASTE and the on-going efforts to build a Town Hall Community and Cultural Center."

Acme Smoked Fish Corporation brings unsurpassed experience and a proud family heritage to all of its superior-quality smoked seafood products. The company was founded in the early 1900's when Russian immigrant Harry Brownstein arrived in New York City. From Harry's humble beginnings as a "wagon jobber" on New York's Lower East Side to the company's present-day position as one of the foremost smoked fish producers in the United States, Acme has been owned and operated by the same family for four generations. Today, the company sells its products under the Acme, Ruby Bay and Blue Hill Bay brands and produces private label products for select clients. For more information, please visit www.acmesmokedfish.com/.

All proceeds from the TASTE Williamsburg Greenpoint benefit the building of the Northside Town Hall Community and Cultural Center, to be housed in the converted historic former Engine Company 212 firehouse. The firehouse was the subject of two massive sit-ins, an award-winning documentary and the inspiration to turn around the areas crumbling economy and infrastructure with years of community organizing. The center will be the home of two long time community groups: Neighbors Allied for Good Growth (NAG) and the People's Firehouse, Inc. (PFI), provide affordable meeting space to local groups, and house a first floor gallery space to be maintained by a collective of local art groups. The money raised at TASTE Williamsburg Greenpoint will go to the project's capital fund, which needs to reach $1 million by next year to begin the renovations to convert the building into this much-needed resource. Please visit www.tastewg.com, www.nthccc.org for more information.