2008

Jeff

Up in West Tisbury, past the airport but before the Mill Pond, is a small building. A part of both Island and national history, it serves as a social and cultural melting pot and a way to track economic trends. It is the Lillian Manter Memorial Hostel and, on a recent Tuesday morning shortly after 10 a.m., every bed was booked, but not a guest was around. The hot July sun was out and the groups of bikers and summer campers, the travellers from Canada and Germany and the friends shacked up in the one private room were all off exploring the Island.

Seasonal workers for Island hotel and restaurant businesses could be arriving by ferry from New Bedford through an organized program within the next few weeks.

And a second proposed program, which would tap federal grant money, could be flying workers from New Bedford to the Island next summer, said Nancy Gardella, executive director of the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber of Commerce.

2002

Blame it on terrorism, the stock market tumble or the fine weather that kept tourists on their beach blankets and away from downtown shops. Whatever the reason, it's been a lackluster summer at the cash register for most, but not all, Island businesses.

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