Bringing the Magic to Montauk with Leo Daunt
Everyone has their own associations with the holidays; particular festive movies, family traditions, favorite treats. For Leo Daunt, Christmastime in Montauk is all about slowing down and spending time with the community and the people he loves. We caught up with Leo between motel maintenance and Holiday Fair prep to chat about what makes the holidays in Montauk so special, and how the community comes together during the winter season. Now, over to Leo.
Tell us about what makes Christmas in Montauk special.
Montauk really slows down in the off-season, and the lack of crowds really gives you the opportunity to appreciate the local community and nature that surrounds you. 
The go go go feeling of summertime is fun, but it means you don’t really have time to spend with everyone you love, Christmas is an excuse to slow down and get back to that.
What makes the Magic of Montauk Holiday Fair so magical? What led you to the idea? Why was it something so important to you to bring to the East End?
The off-season can be a really hard time for a lot of people in Montauk. The sun sets incredibly early, (is it ever up in December in New York?) it is very cold, and there aren’t many people around. We wanted to do something that brought the community together, gave everyone something to do and get excited about, and brought people out to Montauk to frequent the amazing hotels, restaurants, and shops that are still open. I still feel like Montauk’s off-season is undiscovered. You can still walk the beaches, the trails don’t have ticks, there are still great restaurants and bars open. You can surf, fish, and mountain bike. And now you can pet a reindeer, walk through a magical Christmas path while drinking hot cocoa, and ask Santa for an official Red Ryder, carbine action, 200-shot, range model air rifle, with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time.
Describe the Montauk community in a few words. How has that community changed over the course of your life?
Unique, eclectic, supportive. A lot in Montauk has changed, but I think even more has stayed the same. When bad things happen, the community rallies around each other. Our land is still preserved. And you can still dance at Shagwong.
Talk a little about the project you undertook of renovating your family’s motel, Daunt’s Albatross. What does it mean to be preserving and continuing that legacy in the place where you grew up?
Running the family motel means the world to me. I grew up there with my cousins and siblings being watched by our grandparents, Meme and Poppy. They did an amazing job of retaining loyal guests that would come back year after year, to the point where the grandchildren of the original guests they had are now coming with their kids. It was important to us that those guests didn’t feel like we were kicking them out when we renovated, that it felt like we were renovating their little Montauk house.
Favorite Montauk memory?
I would say my favorite Montauk memory is just my daily Shadmoor sunset walk with Koda, my dog.
What does Montauk mean to you?
Montauk is home. It is a place where you can be whoever you want to be and still feel supported and loved. It’s a really small town and you get all of the benefits that come with that, but it also has the most interesting collection of people. You can walk into a coffee shop and you have known the owner your entire life, turn around and talk to the guy that grew up in South Africa and sails around the world for half of the year. Then have a chat with the dishwasher who works 70 hours a week and sends all of his money back home, who just gave a hug to the billionaire standing next to him who just sold his company. A lot of people come to Montauk and have one idea of what it is, but they miss a lot. Montauk is certainly beautiful, the beaches and preserved lands are incredible. Over the last x amount of years there is certainly a lot more money out here, and there are some incredible hotels, restaurants, and nightlife spots. But what hasn’t changed for me growing up and what means the most, is the uniqueness of the people in the town.
