John S. Alley>
508-693-2950
We have received well over four inches of rain in the monsoons of the past few days. It should more than compensate for the lack of rainfall in July. We also were treated to thunder and lighting storms Sunday and Monday. Tomorrow is the beginning of a sales tax-free weekend on a lot of items; please check with the store for the exempted goods.
Activity at the agricultural hall is at a fever pitch preparing for the fair. College students have begun to leave each day in significant numbers as many universities open before the end of the month. By next Friday a lot of the summer traffic and visitors will begin to head in the other direction as the season slowly begins to wind down for another year.
If you witnessed an unusual number of motorcycles of all shapes and sizes last weekend around town and elsewhere your eyesight is just fine. Several hundred motorbikes and their riders and guests attended the 27th annual Run to the Rock celebration off Old County Road last Saturday. Motorcyclists came from near and far to attend the daylong affair. The Martha’s Vineyard Harley Riders Association and its president James Paquette of James Way sponsored the event. This month is also the 105th birthday of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
The following titled A Call to the Fair was published in the Vineyard Gazette on Sept. 4, 1894:
Give attention, kind friends, and harken good neighbors,
And for a brief time abstain from your labors,
For our fair is approaching and whatever your vocation
We entreat your heartiest cooperation . . .
Come one and come all, builders, tradesmen and teachers,
Come mechanics, lawyers, printers and preachers,
And to each and all, just a moment to wait
At the little office that’s near the gate.
The 147th annual Agricultural Fair begins next Thursday and runs until Sunday evening. Eleanor Neubert, fair manager, wants to remind each exhibitor that all forms must be submitted by Monday at 5 p.m. She also reports that Marian Cushing of LMC amusements will have new rides available at the fair. Friday night they will again offer a pay-one price for all rides from 6 to 10 p.m. Robinson’s racing pigs will be there, and a calendar of past fair posters will be on sale. A complete schedule of events is published in the fair booklet. Glenn Jackson is in charge of the eighth annual fiber tent exhibition this year. He reports that the new attraction is manual antique sock knitting machines. There will be various demonstrations of their talent throughout the fair and animals will be available for viewing each day.
The Vineyard Transit Authority for the 16th consecutive year will extend bus service to include the fair on Routes 2, 4, and 6. The 8 bus will run express service from Edgartown to the fair. As an added bonus for riding the bus this year, the Agricultural Society will offer a $1 discount on the purchase of an admission ticket. Be sure and have your hand stamped before exiting the bus to qualify for the discount. A complete bus schedule will be posted on the front porch of the hall. The bus service will run hourly from 8:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. On Sunday the last bus is at 8 p.m. If you choose to bring your car there will be two parking lots available; one operated by the firemen and the society and the other by the Whiting family.
Lynne Whiting reports that her nephews, Dominic and Louis Franciose, of Salt Lake City, Utah, have been visiting. Louis looks forward to the fair with great delight. Their mother, Lori, arrives tomorrow for the week. Also the Davis House Gallery has a new look for August. All of the work sold in July has been replaced with new paintings and charcoal drawings. The gallery will remain open Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 6 p.m. through Labor Day. They were excited to learn that Allen’s Possible Dreams Auction item in honor of Helen Maley earned Community Services $12,000 at their recent auction.
Annabel Ravagli and her husband Gerard, of Milan, Italy, have been visiting this past month with Richard and Ina Andre at their home on Edgartown Road. They have attended concerts at Outerland, gone to the beach, and are having an enjoyable first trip to the Vineyard. Ina reports that her son Nicolas returned home last week from a trip to Germany and the Baltic Sea. He visited his grandparents, Sabrina and Manfred Bittner at their home. He learned how to swim and to feed chickens. He noted it is different than the way his Dad does back on the farm.
Sandy Hicks of Lambert’s Cove and Kate Taylor’s manager reports that her guests are Annie Fowler of London, England, and May Pang of New York city. They came to see Kate Taylor’s appearance at the festival in Oak Bluffs last Sunday. May, who was John Lennon’s girlfriend in the 1970s, also had planned to hold a signing for her book Instamatic Karma at the Bunch of Grapes. The event was canceled but she is still hoping to find a Vineyard place to hold the event.
Stephen Bye and his wife Brenda and their children Catlin and Derek of Wakefield visited with his mother Muriel Bye at her home on Edgartown Road recently. Derek’s friend Ryan Rexford joined them for the weekend. His mother was reluctant so see them leave.
George and Mary Lu Hough’s daughter Mary Pat Hough-Greene of New Freedom, Pa., spent a week with her parents at their Indian Hill retreat. Their grandson Neil Greene and his wife Amy came down from Pawtucket, R.I. He ran in the Chilmark Road Race and finished 98th in a field of l,600 runners.
Kendall Gifford Miller, his wife Carla and their children Daniel and Carl of Newark, Ohio, are vacationing at their home on Edgartown Road. Kendall planted a garden of daylilies and corn on his property and has been selling them from in front of the old Gifford’s store. They plan to attend the fair before returning home.
Dr. Francis Chinard and his wife Jo of Montclair, N.J., arrived for a summer vacation at their home on Tiasquam Road recently; they plan to stay through mid September. They’ve been visiting old friends and busy around the house.
Warren and Judy Morse of James Way recently returned home from a vacation trip to Nova Scotia just in time for the family to celebrate his birthday last week. His three children were on hand, Chris, Robin Nagel and Karen Girouard and also his grandchildren Thomas, Johnny, Ted and Charlie.
Wendy Colbert of Buffalo, N.Y., will be arriving to visit her father Tom Vogl and his wife Katherine Long of Scotchman’s Lane. She wanted to be here for the fair so she could help out.
Jenifer Strachan of Waldron’s Bottom Road reports that she and her husband Steve Lohman will open the doors to their studios on Tuesday from 4 to 7 p.m. The couple’s artwork, created from the unusual medium of wire and broken shards, is easily recognizable, admired and loved by residents and visitors. Steve has been a local fixture in the Vineyard art world for about 25 years. He is internationally known for his wire sculptures and whimsical carved wooden furniture with recent projects in Barcelona, New York, and California.
Jenifer is a mosaic artist who creates pique assiette assemblages entirely from dishes. She’ll also display photographs of her recent installation work. They also will feature art by Gregory Giegucz of New Orleans. The studio is at 188 Waldron’s Bottom Road.
Herb Ward has donated a quilt to raffle and raise funds for the Federated Church choir trip next year.
Paulette Wexler of Oak Lane, a color photographer, and Bettie Eubanks, an impressionist artist, will present their latest work in a two-day garden gallery exhibit and reception from 3 to 6 p.m. next Friday and Saturday at 106 County Road in Oak Bluffs. Both are award-winning artists. Paulette has been described as “making ordinary aspects of our lives extraordinary.” Bettie captures her visions in color and texture with her brush. They welcome friends new and old to attend. For details, call 508-693-6107.
The mystery of the old Frank Adams house on Music street continues. It is evident to Will Monast, who is in charge of the restoration project, Richard Burt and others that the original part of the house is very old, dating back to about 1750. A rear dormer was added last week, greatly increasing the space upstairs. It also exposed pieces of ships’ timbers used as framing, and hand-hewn rafters that were attached to the sidewall with wooden pegs including a part of a timber from an old wooden barge used for a brace. Another section of house was added, probably in the mid 1800s that appears to be a saltbox-type construction typical of that period. Also uncovered was a small section of wallpaper in an upstairs bedroom that dates back to the early 1800s. It has small stars and quarter moons on a white background, a pattern you would have found in a child’s room. The records from Horace Athearn’s journal indicate that the house was said to have moved from near Will Allen’s in Cape Higgon and it belonged to Eleanor Allen. She was a sister to Frank Adams’s mother however this does not jive with other data that has been uncovered that suggests that the original owner of the property was Thomas Cathcart. Both accounts agree that Frank Adams purchased the property and building in 1900, and as Harry Athearn wrote “rejunivated” the place to make it more comfortable.
Happy birthday to: Bill Hoff and Julia Bossio today; Nick Van Nes, Peter Lynch, Marjorie Rogers and Katherine Long tomorrow; Chase Sellers, Sarah Murphy and Michael Saunier on Sunday; Gerry DeBlois, Christine Napolitan, Erica Woodcock and Joel Lewis on Monday; Joseph Ulva and Jennifer Sepanara on Tuesday; Debra Polucci, Robert Francis and Tom Burke on Wednesday; and Tim Gregory, Susan Millett Boaas and Amelia Kauffman on Thursday. Belated birthday wishes to Cameron Bernier and anniversary greetings to Marni O’Brien and Charley Hoffshire and Richard and Martha Doane.
Well that is all of the social news for this week’s column. If you have any news please call or e-mail me. Have a great week.
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