What a blustery Halloween weekend we had. I think my car was trying to play dress-up as a pine tree by the end of that wind storm. At least we weren’t out shoveling snow on Sunday like my in-laws in Central Massachusetts. Though I have to say Saturday when it started to blow and we were hard at work on our Ghostbusters costumes, I was thinking how even if the lights went out, we would have our light-up proton packs to guide us.
Whilst busting ghosts on the mean streets of E-town, I ran into Amy and Greg Ellrodt, in town visiting Amy’s parents, Jay and Russell Swartz. I had run into Amy earlier in the day at Granite. They had arrived on the Island to discover that Saturday was trick-or-treating day downtown, and children Charlie, 3, and Lily, 8 months, did not have their costumes. Luckily, both children had skeleton PJs, which were doctored into costumes. We really missed out though, because back in Boston for Halloween Day, Charlie planned to be a rocket ship and Lily, a watermelon. Can’t wait to see pictures of these little guys.
As more tiny haunters took to the streets in search of candy and trickery, I heard reports of two-month-old Carter Olson, grandson of Joe and Katie Guerin, hitting the streets of Boston as a lobster. Mallory and Madeline D’Amato, 18-month-old twin granddaughters of Barbara Magnuson, dressed as a bumblebee and a flower. Isaac Trance was a candy corn. The Boccia kids, two-year-old Cloe and three-month-old John, went as Super Why and Mighty Mouse. Taylor Barbini, age four, was also Super Why, while little sis Phoebe went as a lion. (As a side note, these costume reports sent me straight to the old Google machine to determine exactly who this Super Why character might be. Apparently, it’s a PBS show that promotes reading, so that’s cool.) Big kid Tash Snowden hit the streets as even bigger kid, her father, “Big Mike.” Little Harley Snowden growled as a fuzzy tiger.
The adult set at the Atlantic party Saturday night did not disappoint. The dance floor was overflowing with Solid Gold dancers, including Eliza Dolby, Megan Anderson, Diane Conover, Denise Searle, and Lisa Murphy; a clan of Kardashians led by Erin Pye; and various witches and wizards and creatures of all sorts. Never to be outdone, a highlight of the night was when a homemade outhouse entered the room, was positioned in the middle of the dance floor, and was opened to reveal Lee Welch enthroned and catching up on his magazine reading.
The industrious Eva Faber is continuing on her trajectory to becoming a future leader. Along with two other students, she represented the Martha’s Vineyard Youth Leadership Initiative at the seventh annual Connecting for Change: A Bioneers by the Bay Conference. Presented by the Marion Institute, the internationally acclaimed solution-based event brings together 100 presenters and 50 workshops — innovators from green business, scientists and grassroots leaders, and people concerned with environmental and social justice, health and healing, spirituality, and sustainability in the Northeast and the world. Bravo. To learn more about the M.V. Youth Leadership Initiative, visit www.mvyli.org.
The Martha’s Vineyard Museum is excited to announce a new deal for Island residents this fall, winter, and spring. Beginning on Saturday, November 5, the Museum will begin offering free admission (or pay what you can) to Vineyard residents every Saturday. Exhibitions this fall and winter include “Out of the Depths: Martha’s Vineyard Shipwrecks,” “Eisenstaedt and Us,” and “We Are Marching Along: Martha’s Vineyard and the Civil War.” In addition to these exhibitions, visitors can see the 1854 original Fresnel Lens from the Gay Head Lighthouse, a carriage shed of vehicles and vessels, an interactive kids’ space, and a permanent exhibition on the Wampanoags. The Museum is open Saturdays from 10 am to 4 pm.
Calling all artists and holiday shoppers: Featherstone Center for the Arts announces their ninth annual Holiday Gift Show. Artists are invited to submit their wares, and shoppers are invited to purchase the work of local artists. The show will run from November 19 to December 18 from noon to 4 pm each day. The opening preview party for participating artists, Featherstone members, and donors will be held Friday evening, November 18 from 7 to 9 pm. The show continues through Sunday, December 18, from 12 to 4 pm daily. Items should be priced in the range of $5 to $250, and the work should be appropriate for gift giving. Artists who would like to participate should contact Featherstone for more info by November 11 via ann@featherstoneart.org, or 508-693-1850.
