The White House announced on Wednesday that President Obama and his family will travel to the Vineyard for a week’s vacation from Sunday, August 23 until Sunday, August 30.

The announcement said the President plans no public events during his Vineyard stay, but that has not stopped the Vineyard public from getting ready for a circus when the Obamas visit.

Vineyard businesses are designing commemorative hats and T-shirts by the bushel and some residents are even booking reservations at restaurants on the odd chance that they may land a seat next to Mr. Obama and the First Family.

The Circuit avenue window shopper this week is offered all manner of Obama paraphernalia, from a 500-piece Obama jigsaw puzzle to trading cards.

The pet store Good Dog Goods is selling shirts emblazoned with the slogan Bobama, an ingenious reference to the First Family dog, a Portuguese water dog named Bo.

The weary shopper can stop in at Sharky’s Cantina for an Obamarita, so named for its similarity to the renowned Tequila-based cocktail.

Other advance preparations are under way for the President’s visit. Members of the Secret Service have taken up residence on the Island, with more expected in the days and weeks ahead. Islanders grew accustomed to seeing men wearing tiny earphones during the years of the Clinton Summer White House, and they’re back, some staying at the Wesley Hotel in Oak Bluffs.

At least part of the security presence is due to the presence of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. Though Mr. Holder has been a Vineyard visitor for many years, this summer he comes with a security detail provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

But a knock at the door of a Winnebago Sightseer motor home parked on the Oak Bluffs harbor on East Chop Drive earlier this week revealed that some agents at least are already stationed here for the duration.

One of a handful of men inside the vehicle emerged in a pressed blue shirt to confirm that he and his colleagues are “with the government.” They are here to provide security for people currently on the Island and will be here for the duration of the President’s visit, he said.

The man, who did not identify himself and declined to comment further on his work, nevertheless confirmed that he and his colleagues were comfortable in the Winnebago, which he said features good air conditioning.

A briefing center for the press corps will be set up at the cafeteria in the Oak Bluffs School, Vineyard schools superintendent Dr. James H. Weiss confirmed yesterday. Mr. Weiss said the White House had contracted with an electrician to upgrade the power supply at the school and whatever else is necessary to accommodate the needs of the electronic, print and broadcast media. Daily briefings will take place at the center.

White House spokesman Moira Mack told the Gazette on Wednesday that deputy press secretary William Burton will travel to the Island for the Presidential vacation.

West Tisbury police have been instructed to assign details to the Martha’s Vineyard Airport and along State Road, according to police chief Beth Toomey. The department will share the load with Chilmark police, she added. Meanwhile this week selectmen in Chilmark, the town which will play host to the Obamas, deferred a decision on whether to grant permission to Verizon wireless to station a mobile cell tower at Peaked Hill.

Perhaps sensing an opportunity, the phone company is attempting to improve, if only temporarily, the patchy cell phone service up-Island. Cell coverage is a live issue in Chilmark and proposals to install a tower have been voted down twice at town meeting.

Town executive secretary Tim Carroll said Verizon representative George Evsiouka came to town hall to request permission to park a box truck antenna mobile cell tower unit on Peaked Hill for the last two weeks of August.

Mr. Evsiouka left a photograph of a box truck and said that the company was working on behalf of the White House communications office.

The representative did not provide further details and did not return phone calls from the Gazette yesterday.

But at their regular meeting Tuesday night, selectmen said they wanted more information. “I have some concern with the general idea,” said selectman J.B. Riggs Parker. Selectman Frank Fenner also attended the meeting. Warren Doty was away.

“I assume it’s for the press. I can’t believe the President would be depending on a cell service from a mobile tower. Without further information I think it’s best if Verizon put their tower somewhere else,” Mr. Parker said.

There is a quiet quality to this Presidential visit compared with the Clinton years, due no doubt partly to the economy and also to the fact that the visit takes place in late August — one week after the peak summer events of the Agricultural Fair, Illumination Night and the Oak Bluffs Fireworks.

And so far there is little evidence that the summer rental market has seen much of an uptick as a result of the Presidential visit.

“There has been none whatsoever that I have seen and I think you are not going to see one — it’s too late. Everybody is leaving,” said Sharon Purdy, owner of Sandpiper Realty and Sandpiper Rentals in Edgartown. She continued:

“We have had an uptick in rentals throughout the summer, but that is because summer came and people decided to take a vacation, many of them at the last minute. But it has nothing to do with President Obama’s visit.”

Mrs. Purdy said she no longer rents to White House staff or members of the press corps. “We did that the first year Clinton came and it’s not worth it,” she said. But she speculated that the press entourage may be smaller this time around as well. “I’m betting that it won’t be the crowd that it used to be,” she said.

Steamship Authority general manager Wayne Lamson early this week confirmed the trend. He said boat line ferries are booked leaving the Vineyard during the weekend of August 21 through August 23. “We are expecting and hoping for a bump in tourist traffic, but so far we haven’t seen anything dramatic,” Mr. Lamson said.

The Obamas will stay at Blue Heron Farm in Chilmark, a private residential compound that is owned by William Van Devender, a seasonal resident from Mississippi who is also a founding member of the Vineyard Golf Club. The Obamas are renting from Wallace and Co., an Edgartown real estate firm that holds a lease on Blue Heron Farm for August and September.

As for the Obama plans, little has been revealed. It is understood that Mr. Obama has a tee time at the Vineyard Golf Club with his friend Vernon Jordan, who also summers in Chilmark.