It took a few attempts, but Tisbury finally got its sense of direction back on Wednesday, when the long-broken weather vane on top of town hall was repaired.

It was no small endeavor. At roughly 79 feet, the steeple on town hall is about seven feet higher than the Christmas Tree which they finished putting up at New York’s Rockefeller Center, also on Wednesday. Plus town hall is on a hill, and amid a thicket of power wires.

So things could have been ticklish.

But the town fire brigade’s ladder truck was equal — by a matter of inches — to the task of reaching the compass at the base of the vane, which has been loose and pointing randomly in various directions, for at least nine months and perhaps unnoticed, much longer.

The truck can extend its ladder 100 feet, but it was working downhill from the building and had to avoid the wires. The first attempt, shortly after 8:30 a.m., to reach the compass failed. The ladder came down, the truck was repositioned and fireman Pete Kazlauskas, riding in the bucket with fellow fireman Pat Murphy and the weather vane expert, Tony Holand, was able to reach.

Lucky Mr. Kazlauskas is tall. Reaching the bolts meant leaning out from the bucket and clinging to the steeple. He needed new bolts; someone made a run to the hardware store. On the final attempt, just before 10 a.m., the ladder threaded the needle between the power wires, reached the steeple and repairs were done. Not only was the compass fixed firmly to the vane, but another, potentially more serious problem was fixed too.

The bolts holding the structure to the steeple also had come loose and were tightened down. Which is good, for while a misdirected weather vane is a nuisance, a falling one could be lethal.

— Mike Seccombe