John S. Alley>

508-693-2950

(alleys@vineyard.net)

The holiday weekend weather was delightfully warm. Many outdoor activities and cookouts took place. The first weekend of the season brought thousands of visitors, as was evidenced by the long lines at the grocery stores in town and increased automobile traffic, up nearly 10 per cent, according to a Steamship Authority official. Even though the price of gasoline has increased in price more than 75 cents or more per gallon on the Island, that did not seem to detract from the deluge of visitors. The VTA buses were busy all weekend. Indeed, the boats were also very busy all day Monday as people were leaving after a fantastic weekend. Andrea Rogers reports that the two-day Artisans’ Festival at the Grange Hall was a huge success.

Alex Karman, of New York city, hosted a gang of his friends at his mother’s house on State Road. They bicycled around, enjoyed a gourmet cookout, planted his mother’s garden and held a backyard Olympiad before returning home on Monday. Present were Michelle and Saul Farber of Boston, John Kuefner of New York city, Thomasz Eliasinski of Brooklyn, Katie and Rick Reilly and Mark and Anne Vasquez of Philadelphia, Penn., and Josh Kimberly, his wife, Kim Sterling, and six-month-old daughter Alice.

Cynthia Walsh, of Old County Road, reports that her sister Diana Cotter has come from California to visit and celebrate a significant birthday. Jaime Hamlin, their youngest sister, will travel all the way up from Vineyard Haven to join them. Their cousins, Bill and Sue Moll, from Grosse Pointe, Michigan, will also be in attendance at the family party. The exact number of birthdays Diana has experienced is a closely-held family secret, as her appearance belies the number.

Martha and Carl Tack of Waldron’s Bottom Road and London arrived at their place last Saturday. Martha reports that they plan to stay here for six months and they are looking forward to a relaxing time. She expects her children will arrive for several visits this summer.

Nada Martecchini, of North Beach, Florida arrived last weekend to spend the summer at her Plum Bush Point home.

Carol Craven, of New York city, arrived last Friday to spend the summer at her Music street home. She has opened her art gallery in Vineyard Haven and reports having a successful art show last weekend.

Lee Deacoupolus, of Providence, R.I., arrived last Sunday to spend the holiday with her friend Phyllis Meras of Music street. She and Phyllis, along with Baron Von Ochs and his wife, Gudrun, dined with the Alleys Sunday night. Phyllis reports that Lee returned home Monday evening after a full day of gardening.

Judy McCarthy, over at the school, reports that eighth grade students and chaperones are leaving today for England. This is our part of the student visitation program in place at the school for many years.

Carol Carrick reports that her son Paul’s illustrations, as well as copies of his children’s book Watch Out for Wolfgang, are now on display at the Granary Gallery on County Road.

Muriel Doane, of Edgartown Road, reports that her brother Bob and Rosemary Doane of Maine arrived for the summer recently; soon thereafter, her brother Richard and his wife Martha arrived from a toasty Tucson, Ariz.

Coco Adams reports that the Martha’s Vineyard Antique Association will begin its new season at the Grange Hall today and tomorrow. About twodozen dealers will be on hand with a variety of items they have collected from Vineyard estates over the winter.

Paul Karasik, development director of the charter school, reports that the Rock Auction Sunday night was wildly successful. The bid on the Farmers’ Market Gift Package jumped from $400 to $500 when Laura Sargent-Hall slapped a pie in his face for an extra $100 bid. The 70s-disco-dance-themed auction was a huge success in raising funds for the school’s new building addition. An exciting matching grant instantly transformed the $15,000 raised from the event into $30,000!

Steve Veges, of Oak Lane, has opened a new business: Advanced Computer Solutions, located in Vineyard Haven. He formerly worked at the Computer Lab and is familiar to a great many of you. He does a great job; I can attest to that and he offers real dependable service.

“On June 4, 1946, Steve and Barbara Courtleigh and their son George, of New York city, arrived to spend the summer season in town. Their daughter Pat will join them in August. They have rented the winter home of Donald Campbell on Old County Road. The Campbells have moved up to their summer home on Basin Road in Menemsha. Steve, an actor, is also the voice of the Shadow on the radio and you can listen to the popular mystery program, sponsored by Blue Coal, Sunday nights on radio station WJZ. Steve, an avid fisherman, plans to make frequent trips to New York to fulfill his acting obligations. He was recently hired by Lucky Strike cigarettes and was photographed here, surfcasting on South Beach. An advertisement will appear in Life, Colliers and the Saturday Evening Post magazines in a month. They also plan on filming him surfcasting and using it in a television commercial in the near future as test to see if the emerging new form of entertainment will reach more of their customers. For the record, the first paid advertisement on television was in 1941 and the price $10.00 and the product was Bulova watches. You remember the punch line of the commercial; America runs on Bulova watch time.”

Happy birthday to: Alan Cottle, Dionis Montrowl, Fan Ogilvie and Lisa Lynch today; Colin Whyte, Peter Hoffman and Greg Marcella tomorrow; Linda Gandel and Amy Fournier on Sunday; Eric Magnuson and Chaya Thanhauser on Monday; Linda Alley and Tracy Scanlan on Tuesday; Emily Pires, Bill Blakesley, Wayne Sylvia and Casey Decker on Wednesday; Stephanie Brothers, Deborah Dennis, George Hartman and Debra Yapp on Thursday. Belated birthday greetings to Bernadette Smith.

Well, that is all of the social news for this edition. If you have any news please call or e-mail me. Have a great week.