Over the past year, Martha’s Vineyard experienced a familiar rhythm shaped by seasons, tradition, and community gathering–yet one unfolding against a backdrop of broader uncertainty. While national, global, and local headlines often carried a heavy tone, life on the Island continued to center around the events that brought us together: celebrations large and small, cultural milestones, fundraisers, performances, and simple moments shared. Across town centers, theaters, harbor-fronts, churches, and community halls, Vineyarders came together with purpose, to honor local tradition, and to stay connected. What follows is a look back at the events that shaped this past year on the Vineyard–how they reflected the Island’s values, adapted to changing circumstances, and reaffirmed the big importance of our little community.
Winter: Making noise in the quiet season
During the summer months, we depend on our visitors, and in the winter we depend on each other. January and February saw a return of cozy indoor programs, most holding the theme of purpose over profit.
The Community Services Family Center continued its informative sessions and gatherings for Island families, and the Martha’s Vineyard Center for Living hosted its Supportive Day Programs for the 55-plus crowd. The Martha’s Vineyard Museum held an exhibition about “The Secret Life of Local Seaweed,” and the Playhouse hosted an art exhibition dedicated to those who best capture iconic local landmarks. Islanders came together in observance of Martin Luther King Day through events including the annual Membership Luncheon held by the NAACP at the Portuguese American Club, and the Day of Peace and Friendship at the Mariposa Museum. What has become one of my favorite off-season productions returned for its fourth year: the Lip Sync Contest in benefit of Friends of Family Planning (now known as the Martha’s Vineyard Sexual Wellness Organization). There were numerous noteworthy performances, but my favorite was a one-woman rendition of the entire musical “Wicked” by Cassidy Look (who ironically has the pipes to not have to lip-synch; all in favor of turning her mic on if she performs again in 2026, say “Aye!”).
The Oak Bluffs library set up a mini golf course through its aisles of bookshelves, complete with food, beer, and wine service. This “Putts & Pints” event is a fairly new and instantly beloved Island tradition to raise money to benefit the library and its programs. In the final days before the beginning of spring, the Island gathered at the Agricultural Hall for its ninth annual Meat Ball, a buffet-style celebration of farming and locally raised meat. In recent years, this carnivorous celebration became more alpha-gal-friendly–a nod to the high percentage of our population affected. And just before the clocks sprang forward, The MV Times held its first winter edition of Islander’s Write. With more than 100 Islanders in attendance, it was a successful experiment, proving the importance of the written word, gatherings, and our year-round community.
Spring: Renewal and reopening
While I am a “summer forever” type at my core, I have always deeply loved the springtime here and the palpable feeling of anticipation in the air. As daylight lengthened and temperatures warmed, the Vineyard’s events calendar expanded rapidly. That being said, some of my favorite spring gatherings are the ones that happen at storefronts and on barstools, as we reunite with our seasonal workforce. But before we saw Jen and Brandon return to their posts at Coop DeVille, and Donovan over at Nancy’s, we headed to the P.A. Club for the fifth annual Night Out for Nonprofits.
MVY Radio held this gathering to celebrate and bring these businesses together, to the tunes of DJ Smooth B, and proceeds went to the Martha’s Vineyard Nonprofit Collaborative to fund educational programs that benefit the Island’s nonprofits. Just after the vernal equinox, the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival celebrated its 24th year, and its third year on the second floor of the Grange Hall–a longstanding theater space, revamped to feel like “Martha’s Vineyard’s Living Room.”
The Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group held its annual spring fundraiser, the Bivalve Ball–a silent auction with local seafood and music by Johnny Hoy and the Bluefish. Continuing with our ongoing commitment to preserving local beaches, the Vineyard Conservation Society held its 33rd annual Earth Day Beach Clean. Then, we moved from sea to farmland for the Misty Meadows Egg Hunt, followed by Island Alpaca’s Shearing Day.
The nationwide tradition of “Porch Fest” has made its way to the Island, with an incredible lineup of local musicians. While this kicked off our outdoor performance season, I have to mention how amazingly talented and stylistically diverse our local live music scene is all year long.
The Martha’s Vineyard Environmental Film Festival is a springtime cornerstone of Island culture, bringing global stories of environmental resilience, climate action, and human impact to the big screen at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Society. And just after we shed light on the realities of our fragile ecosystem, the spotlight shifted to our cinematic history, and the 50th Anniversary of “Jaws” celebrations began.
Summer: ‘We’re gonna need a bigger boat’
Summer remains the centerpiece of Martha’s Vineyard’s events calendar, and this year truly showed its teeth. The “Jaws” 50th anniversary extravaganza began with the opening of the “Deeper Dive” exhibition at the M.V. Museum, complete with original art, movie props, and oral history. Then the museum went on to host Amity Homecoming Week–a five-day event featuring immersive exhibits, performances, and fans’ memories bringing the spirit of Amity Island back to life. Next, the Cape Cod Symphony presented “‘Jaws’ in Concert”, a live performance of John Williams’ iconic score synchronized with a full outdoor screening of the film, held at the Winnetu Resort. And while at times it felt like the Island was completely swallowed by fanaticism and a mechanical shark, this season still provided much more.
First Fridays returned to Vineyard Haven, and farm and flea markets to West Tisbury and Chilmark. Bright colors and delicious bites joined under that big Sperry tent on the Daniel Fisher House lawn for Taste of the Vineyard. Then the colorful celebrations moved to Oak Bluffs for the Vineyard’s fifth annual Pride weekend. For those of us who have grown up in the LGBTQ community on the Island, it is so deeply special to feel seen and celebrated here as we watch this annual tradition unfold. It is also incredible and important to see the expansion of local Juneteenth observance. The Juneteenth Jubilee, the Taste of Juneteenth, and the Gospel Brunch all paid homage to the holiday in wonderful and unique ways.
While we remember the celebrations of culture that happened, we should also remember the celebrations that didn’t. Brazil Fest debuted in June 2024, filling the Agricultural Hall grounds with food, music, dancing, and laughter. This year, however, the emerging Island tradition is on hold, postponed amid ongoing safety concerns tied to the return of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity on Martha’s Vineyard. It is my hope that Brazil Fest returns in 2026–and that our Island once again becomes a safe haven where diverse cultural celebration can exist freely and without fear.
July began with the Fourth parade and fireworks, and continued with the Tisbury Street Fair, the Sail MV Auction, the Portuguese Feast, and the Vineyard Cup Regatta, to name a few of the month’s anticipated events. It ended with HBCU Legacy week–a gathering for the alumni of historically Black colleges and universities.
Celebrations of Black excellence continued in August with the Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival, and this year Kentanji Brown Jackson and Michelle Obama joined the powerful conversations; Obama even presented a live taping of her podcast, “IMO,” with Craig Robinson. Then the month sustained itself with the crescendo of Martha’s Vineyard happenings, and if I were to name them all this article would become the longest symphony in existence. Built on Stilts, the Chilmark Road Race, Grand Illumination, the Oak Bluffs fireworks, the Agricultural Fair, Meet the Fleet, Burgers and Bubbles, and many more gatherings large and small completed our biggest, busiest, and best month of the year. We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that there were also three major literary happenings in August–the Martha’s Vineyard Book Festival, the Martha’s Vineyard Black Book Festival, and The MV Times’ August Islanders Write. Then by the time Labor Day hit, we laborers were ready for the return of Island time.
Fall: Reflection and continuity
As summer visitors departed and the Island returned to a quieter pace, fall events took on a reflective quality. The surrounding ocean kept a warmth in the air, and gatherings felt more familiar. But even as the Vineyard turned inward, our events continued to draw worldly representation, and September started with the International Film Festival and the Aquinnah Wampanoag annual powwow. Then we went on to celebrate Morning Glory Farm’s 50th year with its annual Corn Shuck & Shimmy. This event kicked off the harvest season for the second year in a row, and Morning Glory’s roots continued to grow far beyond its neighboring fields. Its early-September corn is a sought-after prize, and it is only right that we celebrate it.
September also marks the beginning of one of the Island’s most favored events: the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass & Bluefish Derby. It is one of the largest, longest-running and most prestigious competitive fishing tournaments in the United States. Whether you chase tight lines and early mornings for five weeks straight, or you enjoy the spectacle from the shoreline and reap the benefits of your fisher-friends’ bounty (that’s my favorite part), everyone on-Island is somehow involved in the Derby.
Then we moved to Tivoli Day in Oak Bluffs, followed by the Vineyard Charity Golf Classic, LadyFest (this year in Waban Park), and the Women in Film Festival; and once Morning Glory held its annual Pumpkin Fest, the reality of the off-season set in. The last West Tisbury Farmers Market happened for the season–but the final ocean dunk, a personal event practiced separately yet universally, remains the Island’s most reliable signal that fall has arrived.
While assigning this piece, my publisher asked what my favorite local event is. With an incredible array of to choose from with a multitude of themes and purpose, I was instantly dumbfounded. After further thought, and if I had to choose, I would likely say it is the Barn Raisers Ball. It doesn’t bring the elegance, gourmet presentation, and endless stimulation that many of our noteworthy events do, but it does bring our community together in a way that feels so authentic, and right at the heart of what the Vineyard truly is. We are often viewed from a global perspective as a playground for the elite–an epicenter for the rich and famous. Those sentiments aren’t necessarily false, but they inaccurately describe the people who keep this place afloat, and the less glamorous parts of the year here. The majority of us are farmers, fishermen, small business owners, and community workers, and the Barn Raisers Ball is what brings us together after that seasonal glitz is gone. It celebrates the community coming together to build and preserve the Agricultural Hall, but it also gives us a chance to come together and celebrate the economy and community we have built and preserved on the Island as a whole. We swap stories of the summer and dishes from our home kitchens, and we boogie to local music in our xtra-tuff boots and flannels. It is impossible not to love the large and lavish events we hold, but there is something really special about when the purpose of a gathering is simply … to gather.
In a year marked by uncertainty beyond our shores, Martha’s Vineyard once again proved that gathering is both our tradition and our quiet act of resilience. From winter halls to summer streets, from film screens to farm fields, these events did more than fill calendars–they held us together. They reminded us who we are when the crowds thin, when the lights dim, and when the work of sustaining a year-round community resumes. At its core, the Vineyard’s event life is not about spectacle, scale, or seasonality, but about continuity: showing up, sharing space, and choosing connection again and again. And as one year of gathering gives way to the next, that commitment remains–steady, enduring, and unmistakably M.V.
Our belief in the importance of our local events and hospitality scene is exactly why we built the Grapevine brand, to cover and celebrate it all year long. You can look forward to the newsletter on the first of each month, and if you aren’t a subscriber, you can click here to become one!
This month, Marnely Murray returns to The MV Times food pages 10 years after first writing for us, bringing back her deep love of local kitchens, farms, and the back-of-the-house people who make things delicious on this Island. In 2026 and beyond, she’ll partner with Jenna Sylvia to help guide the Grapevine into new, food-forward waters, celebrating how Martha’s Vineyard eats year-round. Subscribe to the Grapevine to read her first piece, “A Year in Review: Food Edition,” coming out Jan. 1 to your inboxes.
