Unofficially the first poet laureate of the Island was Dionis Coffin Riggs, who began hosting a poetry group at the Cleaveland House in West Tisbury in 1960.
Here is Dionis’s poem Wait, Spring, which was published in the April 19, 1996 Gazette:
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Islanders know October is one of the prettiest months and gives them yet another excuse to celebrate the matchless joys of the Vineyard.
October 15, 2022
The fifth annual Ladyfest music festival transformed Circuit avenue in Oak Bluffs for a day of music, vendors and fundraising for the domestic violence program CONNECT to End Violence.
October 13, 2022
With just one week remaining in the 77th Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby, anything can happen, especially with the number of fish crossing the scales each day.
October 11, 2022
For all of us, this three-day weekend is festive, as befits a moment in the year when we first feel the sharp tang of autumn and realize that we can no longer take for granted this season's balmy weather. Each day is a more sharply appreciated gift.
October 9, 2022
About 100 runners from as far as Santa Monica, Calif. lined up to race in the 10th running of the Gay Head 10K Sunday, but it was a husband and wife duo from Queens who took home gold in the overall and female categories.
October 3, 2022
The sights and sounds of a new season are all around us. Village streets grow quieter and parking spaces come open.
October 2, 2022
“I must go down to the sea again,” wrote the poet John Masefield, “to the lonely sea and the sky.” The title of that poem is Sea-Fever, and we remember it at this season each year, when a similar affliction strikes Island residents and visitors.
September 30, 2022
Call them the last days of summer or the first days before the official arrival of fall. A traveler may find a certain seasonal confusion in these September days of high blue ocean skies and nights.
September 29, 2022
High winds and waves brought serious surfers to Squibnocket.
September 29, 2022
The West Tisbury Farmers' Market, a summer staple on the Island, has been running Wednesdays and Saturdays on the fields on the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society since June.
September 27, 2022
As the season turns from summer to fall, summer bird residents start to depart for their winter homes while others visit the Vineyard as they fly southward.
September 26, 2022
Dawn broke on the first day of fall Thursday with rain and a hard wind. Intrepid windsurfers raced through whitecaps on Sengie, framed on the barrier beach saltmarsh that swayed and danced with every gust.
September 25, 2022
All eyes are on the weigh station at the foot of Main street on the Edgartown harbor. Each morning and evening from 8 to 10, the fish are brought to the scales. Stories of the big one caught and the ones that got away carry on throughout the day and night.
September 22, 2022
Casting paper ballots marked YES or NO, Tisbury voters overwhelmingly approved 373 to 112 nearly $26 million in new funding for the proposed school renovations.
September 21, 2022
Gone fishing is the rallying cry for the Island in the second week of the derby. And as always the competition signals that time in the Vineyard year between the waning days of summer and the arrival of autumn.
September 21, 2022
Dozens of classic cars rolled into Veterans Park for the Tisbury Fire Department's annual classic car show. The event is a fundraiser for the Fallen Firefighters Fund.
September 19, 2022