The Feast of the Holy Ghost
The Feast of the Holy Ghost is a major annual Portuguese-American festival hosted at the Portuguese American Club (P.A. Club) in Oak Bluffs, Martha’s Vineyard. This Island tradition celebrates Queen Isabel of Portugal and her charity during a historic famine. Hundreds of spectators gathered on downtown sidewalks to watch the procession of fire trucks, ox-drawn…
Incident in O.B. paralyzes man
Updated July 19. Oak Bluffs Police were dispatched to the Ritz Cafe for a physical assault incident in the early hours of Friday morning that resulted in a man being permanently paralyzed from the waist down, according to a police incident report and the man’s family. A male identified by police as Daniel Serusa, was…
Truck hits pole, rolls over in Oak Bluffs
A truck rolled over on Sea View Avenue in Oak Bluffs this weekend near Nomans Restaurant. The driver was summoned to court for allegedly driving in a negligent manner with an open container of alcohol. The driver, named by an Oak Bluffs official as Sean Hegarty, was issued a court summons after the Friday incident…
Charity swim raises more than $300,000 for Vineyard cancer center
As the sun rose on Meneshama beach on Saturday, hundreds of Islanders and visitors made their way into the cold up-Island water, riding the tide against cancer at the inaugural Martha’s Vineyard Swim Across America open-water swim. The event, led by two local 17-year-old students Leah Thomson and Zoe Treitman, raised $334,043 for the Mass…
Steamship general manager gets high marks, pay raise
Six months into his new role, Steamship Authority General Manager Alex Kryska received high marks from the ferry line’s board members and an over $26,000 pay bump. Board members shared their evaluations of Kryska, in which he got an average grade of 90.5 out of 100, at Oak Bluffs Town Hall on Tuesday. While these…
A view of the White House from the Vineyard
Attendees nearly filled the red auditorium chairs in the Performing Arts Center at the Martha’s Vineyard High School (MVRHS) on Thursday night to hear Dr. Jill Biden, former first lady, discuss her new book called “View From the East Wing: A Memoir.” The discussion was a part of the Martha’s Vineyard Author Series and part…
‘Where does that leave our local business?’
Edgartown’s Winter Street was divided into two sides Friday morning. On one side, a long line of mostly visitors awaited their chance to peek inside the pop-up store of the Amazon-affiliated business Shopbop. Right across the road, a group of local business owners and eager activists stood holding signs in protest against the event. The…
Local sailors unite for beloved Vineyard Cup
It was a reunion of seafarers last weekend when the Vineyard Cup Regatta, a great annual sailing race around the Island, celebrated 20 years. Hosted every year by Sail Martha’s Vineyard, many local sailors compete in the Island race that is also a fundraiser for the Tisbury-based nonprofit’s youth sailing groups. Before the races over…
Driver in Steamship crash dies
Updated July 16. The 91-year-old woman who crashed her car on the Steamship Authority ferry in Vineyard Haven last week died as a result of the incident, the Cape and Islands District Attorney’s Office confirmed Wednesday. Massachusetts State Police identified the woman on Thursday as Ann Lees, a resident of Brookline and Chilmark who died…
UPDATED: Father and son in electric dirt bike accident remain in critical condition
Updated July 15. A father and his 6-year-old son riding an electric dirt bike were seriously injured in a collision with a pickup truck on Sea View Avenue in Oak Bluffs. The two were medevaced to a Boston trauma center on July 9, and remain in critical condition. The father and son, named on Saturday…
Across an inner universe
When Julie Taymor was asked to direct the film “Across the Universe” two decades ago, she looked at the script, and knew she wanted to create a movie that was larger than a love story. Now the culmination of that initial vision is scheduled to be shown on the Island, along with two other films.…
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Environment
Tisbury Oyster Co. receives $10,000 state grant
Tisbury Oyster Co. received $10,000 from the state as part of a funding initiative to support local farms. The grant, announced Friday, will be used by Noah Mayrand, owner of the oyster farm, to purchase floating oyster cages, redo the electrical system on the company boat, and upgrade cage-hauler equipment. “Massachusetts farmers are essential to…
Health
Tisbury Board of Health bans kratom
The Tisbury Board of Health unanimously voted to adopt a regulation banning the local manufacturing, sale, and distribution of kratom during a public hearing on Tuesday. Tisbury follows in the footsteps of Edgartown, which banned kratom sales June 9. Previously available for sale in Tisbury, kratom products are made with ingredients from a tropical Southeast…
Housing
Proposed shelter to heal residents through indigenous traditions
Aquinnah, the ancestral home of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head, may become the host of the first native-run shelter in the state for indigenous women who are victims of domestic and sexual violence. The Martha’s Vineyard Commission opened the hearing for Aquinnah Headwaters, a campus on 7.76 acres that would house a program to…
Education
Mako shark mascot to make waves next year
Regional high school students will officially begin the upcoming school year with a mascot meant to blow the competition out of the water — or into it. A decisive vote at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) committee meeting on Monday night sealed the deal for students to purchase a mako shark mascot costume,…
Politics
West Tisbury town administrator’s retirement plans raise budgetary concerns
After serving West Tisbury for more than two decades, town administrator Jennifer Rand announced she will be retiring. But with it came concerns about added expenses to the up-Island town. According to a letter from Rand, read by West Tisbury Select Board Chair Skipper Manter during a Wednesday meeting, she plans to retire by July…
Cops and Courts
Woman crashes into parked cars in Edgartown
A motor vehicle accident in Edgartown resulted in one individual being taken to the hospital. A construction van with “Vineyard Remodeling” printed on the side crashed into three parked cars on Edgartown West Tisbury Road, across from the library in Edgartown. The 53-year-old female operator of the vehicle was hauled away on a gurney, according…
Immigration
On fishing and freedom
The father and his son had always been knotted together through a shared love of fishing, a narrative throughline from their homeland in Brazil and throughout their journey as immigrants to America. When his son was just a little boy, the father provided him with a bamboo pole to go for tilapia in the pond…
Ferry and transportation
Heat, flooding, and mayhem
The holiday weekend’s commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence brought packed parades, booming firework displays, and an unrelenting heat wave. Days of soaring temperatures, which felt even hotter due to high humidity, were interrupted by torrents of rain and choppy seas that combined to create flooding on Beach Road and…
Opinion
The public nuisance playbook, Chappy edition
To the Editor: A handful of Cape Poge landowners have deployed a strategy of hindrance in a desperate attempt to deny public access to a public beach. What started as…
Get rid of the deer
To the Editor: Interesting article in the June 24, 2026, Times about Gov. Healey and deer regulations (“Aggressive plan to harvest the herd”). Thank you. Perhaps the governor doesn’t realize…
Thank you for supporting Edgartown library fashion show
To the Editor: The Friends of the Edgartown Public Library would like to extend our deepest gratitude to everyone who helped make our recent Fashion Show fundraiser at the Carnegie…
