Last Saturday marked the final Chilmark Flea Market of the summer, meaning my Wednesdays and Saturdays are now returned to me! My goal is to leave at least one of those days each week to make art, play, catch up with friends, or go for a walk: to do something that my friend Althea would say “nourishes my artist heart.” Sometimes it is easier to come up with an excuse about why now isn’t the time to enjoy doing something outdoors: ticks, sharks, weather, traffic. But really, these shoulder-season moments are my very favorite times to explore Martha’s Vineyard.
Last week I spent a day playing tourist in my own town. Shopping along Main Street, saying, “Yes, I would like a bag” when purchasing so that I can show off my favorite stores as I walk home.
If you haven’t walked Main Street in Vineyard Haven for yourself recently, the new art flags for our lampposts are now on display! With 13 beautiful new flags, each highlighting a different local artist and focusing on Tisbury-forward imagery and subject matter, walking along Main and Union streets now shows you a taste of our town’s history through art. Shout-out to the Tisbury Select Board, department of public works, and our incredible jurors who selected each piece so carefully in a blind vote — narrowing 70 submissions down to just 16 flags. This was an initiative led by the Vineyard Haven Harbor Cultural District. Note: There are three flags that did not make it up for this initial display. These include art by Althea Freeman-Miller, Basia Jaworska, and Alison Shaw.
Now closed for the season: Fish MV, Grace Church’s famed Friday lobster rolls, and Lani Beach Club.
Martha’s Vineyard Living Legends, Black, Indigenous, People of Color and Immigrant Elders Oral History Project is holding an upcoming free event at the M.V. Museum Thursday, Sept. 17, from 5 to 6:30 pm. Hear from 15 Martha’s Vineyard BIPOC and immigrant elders as they tell their stories in conversations with Island students.
The next Open Mic Night, now held at the Vineyard Haven Public Library, is Thursday, Sept. 17, as well, at 6 pm.
The Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby has begun its 81st event! I may not have competed in the fishing side of this annual staple, but have been lucky enough to previously participate in the “Bass in the Grass” fundraiser and art auction held at the same time. These almost four-foot-long fish cutouts are turned into art pieces by island artists and auctioned off to support the artists, the Derby, and the Edgartown Board of Trade. Good luck to everyone participating in any part of this year’s Derby: May your casts be true and your fish be plenty.
Do you have an upcoming birthday, event, or just something you want shared in a future Tisbury column? Email me at tisburycolumnist@gmail.com with your own stories of our town or upcoming events you’d like to see spotlighted here.
