The sign is up at the corner of State Road and the Panhandle announcing this year’s Agricultural Fair, which will open a week from today. Susanne Cronin and Nancy Rogers have lined up staff, judges, and hall monitors. The Fire Department has been working Sundays and two nights a week putting up the hamburger booth. Everyone has plans and lots to do. The air thrums with excitement.
I met Charles Pinck at a party this spring. He was showing around a copy of his book, “Why Can’t You Be Funny?” It was due to be published at the end of July. It’s a collection of cartoons, with a running commentary about summer life and residents, mostly featuring up-Island kerfuffles from the past decade. He promised to bring over a copy, which he did. I bought it, and I have since spent several pleasurable hours laughing out loud. It’s a thin book, it’s worth its price, described by Charlie as “96¢ per cartoon.” It’s currently available at Alley’s, Bunch of Grapes, and online at whycantyoubefunny.com.
M.V. Democrats will meet this Saturday at 9:30 am on Zoom. The agenda includes guests who will speak about ballot questions on the November ballot. A reminder that Indivisible M.V. hosts a weekly meeting to write Postcards to Voters on Wednesday afternoons, 4:30 to 6:30 pm, at Howes House. Come and help.
If you are interested in meeting some of the Democrats running for office in November, several fundraisers will be held on the Island. Highlights are Roy Cooper and Josh Stein, former and current governors of North Carolina; Cooper is running for U.S. Senate; Keisha Lance Bottoms, former mayor of Atlanta who is running for governor of Georgia, Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren. For information: demsmv@gmail.com.
This afternoon, Thursday, August 6, is the eighth annual “Dionis Coffin Riggs Day of Poetry” at the West Tisbury library. It’s an event celebrating Mrs. Riggs’ birthday, her love of poetry, and the affection of the Cleaveland House Poets who met in her parlor for many years. All are welcome to attend the event, from 4 to 5 pm, when poems by Riggs and her protégés will be read by attending poets.
Other library events this coming week include Prof. Carol Gilligan discussing her new novel, “Solstice,” with Daphne Merkin at 3:30 pm Friday. Saturday, 3 pm, Island authors Elle Lash, Alice Early, and Kim Leaird will talk about their contributions to the “Washashore Review,” Vol. 2. Next Wednesday, August 12, 10:30 am, Children’s Storytime will be held at the Grange with Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group members, tanks with live shellfish to touch, and a reading of “Skippy Scallop.”
“The Beat Goes On: Work From Featherstone Life Drawing Sessions” is the current exhibition in the Program Room of the Edgartown library. There will be an artists’ reception this Thursday, August 6, 6 to 7:30 pm. The artists, who meet every Tuesday afternoon, are Chip Coblyn, Patricia Kelly, Elizabeth Langer, Richard Limber, Sharon O’Sullivan, Virginia Stone, and John Wolff. Several were members of Tom Maley’s weekly drawing group in West Tisbury. The name was changed when it moved to Featherstone.
An art show celebrating Chilmark, its people, landscapes, fishing, farming, history, and culture is on view at the Chilmark library, which is hosting a reception for the exhibiting artists on Saturday, August 8, from 2 to 4 pm. The participating artists are Ellie Bates; Clayton, Georgiana, and Valentina Barbetti; Anne Ganz; Alexander and Calum Hart; Patricia Kelly; Elizabeth Langer; Isla and Fiona McMahon; Bill O’Callahan; Suzie Pachico; Colin Ruel; Virginia Stone; Elizabeth Taft; Linda Thompson; Deborah K. Silliman Wass; Marcia Wise; and Alexander Wright.
The past days’ soft rain has kept everything looking lush and green. I wonder if being inside a cloud would feel like that?
