Mr. President: Welcome to Summer

When Vineyarders think of summer and the rush of seasonal events that govern our lives these days, they look to August as that most robust of all months on the Island calendar. August is the month for Illumination Night and magic light of lanterns in the old Victorian Camp Ground of Oak Bluffs. A few days later, after the lanterns flicker and go dark, the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society opens its annual fair in West Tisbury. And, finally, as August grows busier by day and night, our attention turns to the darkened skies over Ocean Park in Oak Bluffs for a grand fireworks salute to the height of the season and the approach of Labor Day.

It is hard to imagine room on the Island calendar for more events. The month of August is full, almost too full for the number of hours in day or night. But the Vineyard and her people have always been adaptable and so it will be again in late August. The Island season just got a little busier, a little more hectic.

President Obama and the First Family will reopen the summer White House on the Vineyard in the last week of August, according to reliable sources. Reports also raise the possibility that the First Lady and their two young daughters may arrive here earlier.

Presidential visits always create a commotion whenever the President and the trailing White House entourage travel. But the Vineyard by now is comfortable with Presidents and First Families living in our midst as seasonal residents and good neighbors. We learned how to be good hosts during eight years of Vineyard visits by President Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea.

Now the Island and her citizens will extend once again a welcoming hand. Only the names of the President and his family have changed.