It is that time of year. Town Meeting is next Tuesday evening at the Tisbury School auditorium, beginning at 7.
Some of our neighbors who volunteer with the Healthy Aging Task Force are talking about a new item on the Town Meeting warrant. This is First Stop, a website to provide information. It will offer help for our aging population. It is a place to find out about assisted living and respite care, and even how to build a ramp on your house or make home safer for seniors. This has to be approved by voters in all the Island towns to make it work. You can find out more at info@hatfmv.org.
Saturday is the Earth Day beach cleanup, sponsored by the Vineyard Conservation Society. Get outside while giving back to our Island. Go to your favorite beach on Saturday from 10 to noon. Volunteers will be on hand with what you need, but bring your own gloves and bags if you can. Celebrate Earth Day and make a difference by helping clean up our beaches. And make sure to visit the Harbor View Hotel around noon for the great afterparty. This year marks the 50th birthday of VCS. More at info@vineyardconservation.org.
This Saturday enjoy Shakespeare at the Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse at 7:30 pm or at the matinee on Sunday. Shakespeare for the Masses — Quick & Painless & Free: See All’s Well that Ends Well. It is free, but of course donations will be gratefully accepted at the door.
Would you like to help count the horseshoe crabs on the Island? Training for this is Wednesday and also May 2 at Felix Neck. Call 508-627-4850. Free lectures about the horseshoe crab are at a library near you: April 28 at West Tisbury from 5 to 6 pm, April 29 at Edgartown at 5:30 pm, and April 30 at Oak Bluffs at 6 pm. Susie Bowman and Fred Hotchkiss will present a slide show as they tell you all about the horseshoe crab.
Also next Wednesday the Martha’s Vineyard Museum invites you to view a Mystery Quilt at a reception at 5 pm. Fourteen women signed individual, triangular pieces of fabric in 1890 that were made into a quilt featuring wonderful printed and woven textiles. Who were the women? Why did they make the quilt? Both WINFO (The Women’s Information Organization) and the History Club at Martha’s Vineyard High School have researched the questions and the women to create this exhibit. Because most of the student curators in this case do not sew, the Martha’s Vineyard Modern Quilt Guild has promised to explain the quilting techniques of the mystery quilters. The opening reception is free and open to all.
The Martha’s Vineyard Museum reminds you of a good opportunity to share a special photo or drawing. They ask you to submit a portrait of some person from Martha’s Vineyard before June 1. Judges will select those portraits, which will be on display at the Museum in September, although all the submissions will be posted online for everyone to vote on. Those popular winners will be included in a later show to be held at Featherstone. More at mvmuseum.org/portraitcontest.php.
Sunday from 4 to 6 pm you should attend the opening reception for an exhibit called Ocean Wilderness at Featherstone, which is presented by Marianne Goldberg for Pathways. The display will be available through May 6. Featherstone has many new classes, including a plein air class with Liz Taft to be held on Saturday morning, April 25.
Town residents should note that the Vineyard Haven library will close at 6:30 pm on Tuesday for the Tisbury Town Meeting. Library computers will be shut down at 6 that evening. The library will also be closed for the day on Patriots Day. And the library is now closed on Sundays for the season, until October.
Traveling? Get your take-along book at the mini book sale at the Vineyard Haven library a week from Saturday, April 18, from 2 to 4 pm.
Happy anniversary to Donna and Ed Herczeg.
Big bunches of birthday balloon wishes go out on Saturday to the VCS for half a century of caring for our Island. Wish the best on Monday to Debbie Eggers and Allan M. Davey. Wednesday belongs to Ann Lee, who you can probably find hard at work at the DPW office.
Heard on Main Street: Keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.