Flags are flying, Memorial Day weekend is upon us, and we must be the vigilant ones when driving. In fact, the other day someone was biking down the center of my driving lane as I came around a curve on North Road, and they weren’t even looking straight ahead! So folks, be mindful as our roads fill with visitors. Also, ticks are out in full force; check yourself and loved ones daily, including your four-legged friends. Every Menemsha shop and eatery should be open, all our farm stands are open, fishing charters are running, and the Chilmark Store welcomes all.
I got to talk to Captain Annette Cingle of Annalee Charters, also the anchor for Copperworks during summer days when her partner Captain Scott McDowell is taking folks out on the Lauren C. Scott has been operating North Shore Charters for 25 years. For the past five years, Annette has taken clients out from 7 to 10 am before opening the store and loves fishing as much as she can. She started shore fishing in 1988, then “got into boat fishing, started to do commercial fishing, learned about boats and loved it.” Coming from Pennsylvania to Martha’s Vineyard after her junior year in college changed everything. Annette “couldn’t leave.” She spent the summer with a friend working at the Edgartown Yacht Club, saying, “It was a blast.”
In November that year she and a friend took off for the Tenerife Islands, where she spent two years selling time shares before traveling all over, living in France, selling time shares in Spain and Portugal, and then returning for the season here and heading back abroad for the off-season.
“The time-share business got old, and I missed the Vineyard so much,” Annette said, especially culturally, and of course her friends. First, she worked in the restaurant business, then catering, then fishing. She has a lot of varied experience, including being the restaurant manager for Keith McNally’s NYC French Bistro Pastis, which opened in 1999 and was considered to be a Meatpacking District mainstay. It closed in 2014, and will reopen in 2017 near the new Whitney Museum.
After 9/11, Annette came home to the Vineyard, and she was ready to “stay for good, a perfect place to raise a child.” Her daughter, Annalee, is now 11, and learning about horses through Girl Power, offered at the Martha’s Vineyard Community Horse Center.
I stroll around Copperworks checking out the artwork, paintings, jewelry, and antiques while Annette takes a call to discuss motor problems with Buddy Vanderhoop. Scott comes in, and I learn that the paintings of fish on multicolor assembled wood are those of his son Ross McDowell, now a surfer and waterman living in San Diego.
The store has existed eight years in the former Poole’s Fish Market. Scott got started with trout on copper when his work got picked up by the Sundance catalog, but he doesn’t do that anymore — too much repetition.
“Scott’s always creating something new,” said Annette.
“There’s always stuff I have in stock,” said Scott, “and then there’s custom orders.” Scott does a lot of custom orders, although his regular stock is the larger part of his business, both in the store and online.
“The copper pieces are good inside or outside,” said Annette, and they never seem to be able to catch up with orders. When Scott built his boat, he bought most of the stuff he needed from the man we bought our Chilmark home from, Bob Merry. Scott also bought his deep-sea fishing rods from Bob Merry. The gallery represents mostly local artists, including painters Bill Buckley, John Holladay, Karsten Larsen, Marjorie Mason, Thaw Malin, Anne McGhee, Joan Stillman, painter and former decoy carver Will Kirkpatrick, photographer Ben McCormick, and jewelers Joan LeLacheur, Gino Powell, Scott McDowell, Adam Thibodeau, and Don Widdiss; plus baskets by Lady Celeste. This year they went to Brimfield for the first time, and had a blast; stop by to see their finds.
The Garden Conservancy’s Open Days program invites you to tour Blueberry Ridge Garden, 19 Blueberry Ridge Lane, Chilmark, from 10 am to 2 pm on Saturday, May 28; admission is $7 per person, children 12 and under free; event is rain or shine. At 3 pm the Open Days program presents “Digging Deeper: The Dexter Rhododendrons in a Collector’s Garden,” with collector Peter Norris. Registration required, and space is limited. Admission is $20 per person, $15 for Garden Conservancy members. Suzy Zell, the full-time head gardener, will also be available to answer questions. Call 888-842-2442, or visit opendaysprogram.org for more information.
Wampum artist Joan LeLacheur will hold an open studio with art cards by Susan Shea on Saturday, May 28, from 10 am to 5 pm at 42 Old South Road, Aquinnah. For more info call 508-645-9954 or email Joanlela57@gmail.com.
Congratulations to the Yard, listed by the New York Times as the No. 1 dance festival in their “50 Essential Summer Festivals.” Daily classes have started. Head to the Let’s Go Crazy! Prince/Bowie dance party on Friday, May 27, starting at 7 pm at the Yard. $10 adults, $5 kids under 12. If you’re on Chappy on Saturday, May 28, catch Dance the Yard at Mytoi Gardens, free at 1 pm. Great things are happening this summer, so check their online schedule for tickets. And welcome to all the summer interns.
Chilmark Chocolates is now closed through June 2, 2016.
Have a great long weekend, and for everyone else — don’t work too hard.