Margaret Knight>

508-627-8894

(margaret02539@yahoo.com)

We don’t usually think of February as a vacation month on the Vineyard, but so many people came for the three-day weekend that the Island looked almost like May. Families with off-Island school vacations stayed to enjoy the quiet season. The rain and warm temperatures turned our snow to mush — no longer good for cross-country skiing — but when the warm sun came, it was welcome. The week ahead should be a quiet one as Islanders head south for even warmer temperatures or north for the slopes during our school vacation week.

Many people gathered at the Community Center for the Valentine’s Day tea, a cheery midwinter event. The room looked festive in red and white decorations, punctuated by hearts and doilies. The silver tea sets gleamed and sandwiches and cookies were consumed amidst much conversation and tea sipping. Many people contributed to the event, including all who made the food, shined the silver, and the mystery snow plower who made it possible for us to park, and Pedro Baez, who played classical guitar music to set the mood.

The ferry house at the point is sporting new bulletin boards built by Ken Bettencourt. Peter Wells has custody of the ferry houses on both sides, and has been upgrading them since he bought the ferry service. The new boards (one for the Community Center and one for other postings) have doors that slide more easily, which means your knuckles will no longer be scraped trying to post things. They’re also wider, so that falling tacks can accumulate on the bottom board rather than on the ground below. And, they’re bigger, which is good since there continue to be more of us needing to put up ads and posters.

The high school put on a production of the musical Rent last week. The stage was transformed into a low-rent cityscape filled with people having various troubles. It was not typical subject matter for a high school musical, but there was clearly lots of enthusiasm on the part of the cast and crew. Supporting the main characters were many city dwellers who helped with the singing and dancing, including Chappy’s Sarah Gruner. Abigail Southard’s work as the vocal coach showed up in the high quality of the singing.

On Friday, Feb. 26 at 11 a.m., the Chappy Path steering committee invites all to attend the Northeastern University civil engineering students’ presentation of findings and alternative concepts for a potential bike path on Chappy. The design team, supervised by instructor Daniel Dulaski, has been working on generating designs for a multi-use path, the Dike bridge intersection, and the ferry parking area on the Chappy side. At this meeting at the town hall, they will solicit comments from Edgartown citizens on the various options, and will use this feedback to advance their plans. This is a public presentation under the auspices of the Edgartown planning board and Stuart Fuller of the highway department.

The U.S. Census Bureau is looking for people to work on the Island as enumerators, to locate houses and conduct interviews with respondents, and for other jobs. There is a week-long training period after which you work flexible hours, not more than 40 per week, on assignments that generally last for several weeks. For information you can go to the Web site: 2010censusjobs.gov, or call 866-861-8339.