JANE N. SLATER

508-645-3378

(slaterjn@comcast.net)

Happy May Day to all! This date used to be a fun holiday in town when folks hung May baskets on each other’s doors in the hopes of surprising them and then getting invited in for food and fun. Maybe someone will hang a May basket on you today.

Chilmark’s town meeting on Monday night was attended by a good number of citizens but not the roomful that usually attends. No doubt, the subjects to be discussed and voted on determine the size of the crowd. This time, things went smoothly and moderator Everett Poole kept us all on track and sent us home at a reasonable hour. All the results can be found in detail elsewhere in this paper.

Remember that the Women’s Symposium will meet on Saturday at 9 a.m. at the Community Center.

The Galley, the popular eatery in Menemsha, will open for business on May 14 and, across the road, the Home Port will open for dinners on May 18. Josh Aronie’s new Menemsha Café opened this week on Basin Road.

Cindy Renzi of Los Angeles arrived in town this week and is preparing for her new job as general manager of the Home Port. She tells me that they will be accepting applications for employment in all positions from noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday at the restaurant.

Ronald and Hazel Greenwood of Rye, N.Y. have opened their South Road home for the season.

The Rev. Arlene Bodge will be guest preacher at the Chilmark Community Church this coming Sunday, May 3. The service begins at 9 a.m.

Tom and Barbara Rivers are enjoying the Chilmark spring after a drive to and from Florida with stops along the way to visit friends and family. They visited their daughter, Diane Rivers and her son, James Anderson, in Sarasota. They celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on Anna Maria Island, and while there, visited Nancy Marvel. They went on to Naples before heading home via the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel and the Lewes, Delaware to Cape May, N.J. ferry. All in all, they drove about 4,000 miles! Welcome home and cheers from us all for the anniversary.

Happy anniversary greetings go to Louie and Mary Larsen who are celebrating their 61st anniversary this week — cheers from us all!

Sunday, May 3, will be a workday with potluck luncheon at the Chilmark School. Volunteers will create a vegetable garden on the school grounds so the work will include shoveling, fencing and planting. All families and community members are invited to come out and help. You are urged to come in work clothes and bring a dish to share for lunch. The work will be done between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. If you have questions, please call Holly Bellebuono at 508-645-2956.

Bruce Slater has planned a celebration of friendship to honor the memory of his late wife, Marcy Slater. It will be held at the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center at 2 p.m. on May 17. The program will include poems, songs and stories about friendship followed by a high tea — which was Marcy’s favorite treat. She was a friend to many and a hard worker for the many passions of her life. She worked tirelessly for the Chilmark Library, always with children considered first and she mentored students at the West Tisbury School along with many other volunteer hours spent in behalf of children. We all miss her presence among us. We miss her vitality, her ambition and her laughter.

Eric and Jessica Greenebaum of Vermont are at the family home at the end of North Road for a spring vacation.

The County of Dukes County is sponsoring a seminar on May 8 at the West Tisbury Public Safety Building from 9 a.m. to noon. The subject matter is of interest to health boards and pest management professionals; however, all those in the general public who are interested are welcome to attend. There will be speakers and information offered regarding bats, mosquitoes, biology and the rules and regulations of the Department of Agriculture as it relates to these subjects. Please e-mail T.J. Hegarty at tjhegarty@dukescounty.org or call him at 508-696-4888 for more information and reservations. As an aside, I ask if anyone has seen any bats in recent years in Chilmark? I remember as a child, it was such an adventure to be allowed to stay up and watch the flight of bats in the fields and shrub growth around our Chilmark house.