JANE N. SLATER

508-645-3378

(slaterjn@comcast.net)

Lots of news and many announcements take our attention this week. Best to get the date book out and get set for early summer fun — I am assuming that the summer weather will eventually catch up with the calendar! Chilmark has been sort of cold and gray lately ... time for some sunshine and warmer days!

Karen Ramsey of Larsen Lane and Baton Rouge, La., and Brad Milisto, also of Baton Rouge, were married at the Old Whaling Church on June 6. The reception followed at the Winnetu Resort in Edgartown. Karen is the daughter of Bill and Betsy Ramsey of Menemsha and Wayland and is the granddaughter of William Gilmour and the late Ruth Hancock Gilmour of Wayland and Menemsha. Brad is the son of Tommy and Beverly Milisto of LaPlace, La. The bride’s sister, Kim, served as matron of honor. She and her husband, Kevin Kelley, were here from Seattle. The couple will honeymoon on Martha’s Vineyard and will live in Baton Rouge, coming often to their Menemsha home. The Rev. Allan Baldwin of Wayland officiated at the wedding. He and his wife, Diane, were houseguests of William Gilmour. Cheers from us all!

Many friends and family members came from off Island for the festivities. David, Jill, Heather and Jeremy Johnstone came from Ashland; Kevin, Nancy, Cullen and Kayleigh Quinn came from Northboro. Susan Weber came from Union, Maine, and Chip and Justin Phillips from Richmond, Va.

Hariph and Ginger Smith of Winthrop, Maine, were at their Larsen Lane home with their son, Nathaniel and his wife, Meghan, and their eight-week-old daughter, Evelyn, who made her first visit to Chilmark last weekend.

Special Happy Birthday wishes go from us all this week to Florence Flanders who currently resides in Windemere. Florence is celebrating her 93rd birthday today and we hope it will be a happy day of remembrance and festivity. She is the widow of Chilmark resident Leslie Flanders, and the mother of Chilmark residents,Allen and Graeme and of Brian, of Vineyard Haven, where Florence lived for many years. She has four grandchildren. When Florence came to Chilmark there was one telephone party line and many fewer residents, who all knew each other. We know she has happy memories of her Chilmark life including her in-laws, Allen and Ethel Flanders, who lived in the big yellow house at Quitsa with the great views of Menemsha Pond and beyond. The Flanders family home in Menemsha, The Heritage, is having an anniversary this summer as it will be rented again ... as it has been for the past 50 years ... to members of the Goldman family. This year the second and third generations will be represented. Judy Goldman Damron will be there this summer. Congratulations on a nice milestone for both families.

Ron and Deborah Nagengast of Albany, were in town this week renewing friendships. They were happy to tell us that their son, Derek, graduated this spring cum laude from Suny Albany. Derek is a graduate of the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School. He will work in Edgartown this summer. Their other good news is of a new granddaughter born to their daughter, Callee, and her husband Patrick Carpenter. Emily Elizabeth was born in Albany. Cheers to all!

The Chilmark Community Church is a happening place, as they say. They will host a Children’s Fair on June 20 from 10 a.m. to noon. There will be pony rides, games, storytelling and a ventriloquist. The public is welcome. Volunteers are needed and can call Ann Deitrich.

The Chilmark Community Church’s annual Flea Market will begin on Wednesday, July 1, and run every Wednesday and Saturday until Sept. 5. The new location for this popular fundraiser is the field on North Road opposite the red gas pump that is on the side of the road. This is known as Pat Jenkinson’s meadow. The volunteers who will be hosting this event are inviting folks to a parking dress rehearsal at the new site after services at the church on June 14 at 10 a.m. The coffee hour will take place there.

More big news from the Church is that there will be a weekly lobster roll night. Judy Mayhew will be making lobster rolls for sale to the public at the Church from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Phone orders will be taken beginning at 3 p.m; call 508-645-3100. Your $13 will buy a lobster roll, chips, and a drink. This will be offered every Tuesday beginning June 16. The Vineyard Sound will perform at the Chilmark Church beginning at 8 p.m. on Tuesdays, weekly through August 18. This popular singing group has a strong following — if you haven’t heard them, you are in for a treat.

Another popular event of early summer is the annual strawberry festival at the West Tisbury Congregational Church on State Road at Music street. It will be on June 27 from noon to 4 p.m.

Ed Greenebaum and Joan Caulton are here from Indiana and are enjoying the month of June at their Menemsha home.

Chilmark poet John Maloney will read from his poetry at Featherstone Center for the Arts on Thursday, June 18, at 6:30 p.m.

The Chilmark Bank will host an art show of the works of Chilmark resident Gloria Burkin and her daughter, Jennifer Burkin. It is their first mother-daughter show and will run for one week beginning June 12. Gloria will offer up-Island landscapes and Jennifer will display small acrylics. She recently earned a master’s in art education from Tufts University. Both artists will be selling their works at the Chilmark Flea Market on Saturdays and at Featherstone on Tuesdays all summer.

Marshall and Katie Carroll and their children, Bradley and Brook, are home from an exciting time visiting family and friends in Washington, D.C.

Forrest and Anne Speck are enjoying the month in Menemsha at a Morgan cottage.

Lois Blazer of Warwick, R.I., visited friends in town this week.

Chilmark artist Wendy Weldon will have a show of her recent artwork from June 26 through July 9 at the Shaw Cramer Gallery in Vineyard Haven.

Best wishes go to Charles Phillips of Larsen Lane who is spending a few days at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. His friends hope he will be home soon.

Diane Murphy will speak at the Chilmark library on Wednesday, June 17, at 5:30 p.m. She is a specialist in fisheries and aquaculture and will speak on Great Pond Oyster Restoration. The Menemsha Fisheries Development Fund and the Friends of the Chilmark Library sponsor this program.

Any more bat sightings? Next week I will complete the Chilmark bat report.