Town Column : Aquinnah
By Molly Purves
Published: March 26, 2009
It's officially spring; not that I really believe that the bad, cold, icky weather we have all grown tired of is really over, but I have seen crocuses coming up and some daffodils. The crocuses I saw dotting someone's lawn in Vineyard Haven, and the daffodils, well, I actually saw those at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, does mean that green things are growing in the Northeast and will eventually be growing here. That's how I'm seeing it anyway.
There are some official announcements this week. The board of selectmen is accepting warrant articles for placement consideration on the Tuesday, May 12, town meeting agenda. The deadline to submit the articles is this Tuesday, March 31. The town clerk announced that nomination papers for local offices are now available. They must be returned to the town clerk by Wednesday, April 8, and town elections will be held Wednesday, May 13. For more information, call Carolyn Feltz at 508-645-2304. So, if you have something that you think the town needs to discuss and vote on or you want to do some service, now is the time to hop to it.
I have not mentioned the library in, what, a couple of weeks now? So, I feel that I must tell you a few things:
This Saturday the Spindrift Marionettes, featuring Aquinnah's own Joanie La Lechur, will be performing "Toad: Party in the Sky" at 11 am. Come an hour early to make art from felt and wool.
This Tuesday, from 5:30 to 7 pm, Amanda Hutchinson will be at the library to help you with your knitting or sewing project.
The second potluck movie night will be held Saturday, April 4. Dinner at 6 pm and movie at 7. It's lovely and there's free popcorn.
Congratulations to Emerson Mahoney, whose hockey team made it all the way to the state semi-finals this past weekend, and congratulations to his sister, Ella, as well, who starred as the narrator in "Godspell", also this past weekend. Their mother, Juli, is baking again. This is truly a time to rejoice. She will be baking every weekend and once or twice during the week as long as it's sunny. She has added some new bread to her repertoire and the California cranberry seems to be the running favorite right now, selling out in about 15 minutes. Stop by the Orange Peel Bakery on State Road and pick up some great bread.
The 9th annual Martha's Vineyard Film Festival held two weekends ago was fantastic. The movies were all really good, and the crowds were sometimes very large, but always polite. Aquinnah was well represented at the festival. Janis Vogel's film, "Drop," kicked off the shorts program. I coordinated the volunteers, Spa and Cynthia Robinson volunteered, some of the filmmakers stayed at the Duck Inn, and, of course, there were audience members from Aquinnah. Let's hear it for Aquinnah in the house. I think the festival gets better every year and the program was really strong and varied, both in subject matter and emotional timbre. It is always interesting to see what films people are still talking about once the festival is over. I love that the conversation and the experience of the festival doesn't end when the festival does; it continues through the next few weeks as people meet and feel compelled to talk about what they saw and felt. It is a true community event coming at the perfect time, the end of winter, when we all could use a big party, and a weekend of movies.
