JOHN S. ALLEY
508-693-2950
With the fair in full swing it is hard to believe our summer season is fast becoming history. The weather has been, for the most part, quite warm this month but June and July were below standard. It has also been hectic for most everyone with house guests. The traffic was a nightmare everywhere, backed up in every parking lot. By next Wednesday, the fair will be but a memory as most all the trucks, tents and carnival equipment will leave starting on Monday. There will be a furious round of season-ending parties and summer guests.
College students, summer visitors and their children have been filling the boats every day, but this time going in the opposite direction. Many public schools, in western Massachusetts and elsewhere ,open before the end of the month. It is becoming clearer each passing day that the seasonal exodus is well under way. The long lines of people and cars leaving the Steamship Authority docks have been a daily occurrence for nearly a week. We are again reminded of the late Howard Andrew’s famous bumper sticker, Pray for September. It is just 16 days until Labor Day.
Up until late Wednesday afternoon the entry-processing department of the fair was operating at a fever pitch. This year’s tag stringers were Martha Doane, Judy Bryant, Susie Boass, Charlotte and Emma Hall, Eleanor Stanwood and Ann Howes. The famous Glimmerglass Girls have been involved with the fair for several decades. Eleanor Neubert is the fair manager while Kathy Lobb has been the hall manager for a number of years and is ably assisted by her mother, Kathleen Brady; Eve Heyman is the entry clerk and barn manager. Marion Cushing, owner of LCM Amusements from Wilmington, is again providing the rides and midway games at the fair. Marion enjoys her time here and reports that “it is like coming to visit family” every year.
Last Sunday night on Duck Pond Road in Lambert’s Cove there was a party with more than 150 people invited to celebrate the recent marriage of Beth and Bud Moskow. The place was absolutely splendid and all decked out with a big white tent and the evening was perfect. There was a fine crowd, catered dinner, music by Johnny Hoy and Jeremy Berlin and dancing started by Bud and Beth.
Michelle Berlyne, her husband Rick Chisolm and their children, Timothy and Sarah, of Toronto, Canada arrived on Tuesday to visit her mother, Shanti Blum at her Music street home. The following week Leslie Hect and her children, Sidne and Mason, of Mammoth, N.J. will be arriving for a summer visit.
C.J. Millett, his wife Lissa, and children came down for the fair and are staying at their house at Glimmerglass. Davies and Annie Cabot from New Hampshire hosted a cookout for family and friends last week at their Middle Road home.
Emily Gadd, of South Road, has had her usual busy summer and is tending to her garden with great care and it has responded by producing a bountiful amount of vegetables. She is also an avid fisherman in addition to swimming almost daily at the beach.
Judy Randall of Virginia was the guest of Phyllis Meras last week. Judy enjoyed dinning out, visiting friends and celebrating Jon and Genevieve Randall’s 21st wedding anniversary.
John Cronin and his wife Ellen have been vacationing at their son Mark’s home on Plum Bush Point for the past two weeks. On Tuesday their son arrived from Los Angeles, Calif. He is the president of Mindless Entertainment. They attended Illumination Night and plan to attend the fair and spend quality time at the beach.
Carol Carrick, and Jack Burton, of Oak Knoll Road, went to Vermont recently and they are enjoying a wide variety of outdoor activities. She says they are doing a lot of reading in the evening and enjoy the superb libraries, farmstands where they can buy vegetables, fruit, local milk and yogurt. She was sad to see that the local general store, which has been in business for a century, has closed. It was used in one of her children’s books.
Nathalie Fallon, of Atlanta, Ga. was inadvertently not mentioned in last week’s column. Nathalie has also been busy this summer riding her bike, exploring the Island and discovering new places of interest, caring for her cousins, teaching the older generation how to use Facebook on the computer. She is planning to return to school in Georgia shortly.
Anna and I went over to Toyota of Dartmouth to seal the deal on a new Matrix on Tuesday. After a paperwork snarl Lisa Silva handed Anna the keys and we were off with a new car.
Barbara Hull, of Edgartown Road, reports that her daughter Cecily Bryant’s husband Michel Salhany passed away recently. They were a delightful couple and it was quite a shock to everyone. Our condolences to both their families and friends.
Henry Louis Gates Jr. reports that tonight the NAACP, which is celebrating its centennial this year, will be presenting a fun and enlightening evening with Julian Bond from 6 to 8 p.m. at the United Methodist Church in Trinity Park in Oak Bluffs.
On June 12, 1946 the members of the fair committees established by the Agricultural Society held a meeting in the Hall to discuss preparations for the fair. “With their annual cattle show and fair less than two months away plans are rapidly being perfected to make the first fair the society has held since it was interrupted by the war a memorable one. In line with this effort and in order to appeal to the increasing amount of summer visitors, the date of the fair has been advanced to August and will be held in late summer for the first time in its history. The fair was held at first in October and more recently in September. In addition to the new date and planned new features, William W. Pinney, of Sweetened Water Farm, has been elected the Society’s president replacing Charles Norton who resigned. He has expressed a keen interest in restoring the cattle show to the prominence it once enjoyed and which the original name, cattle show and fair, would indicate. Twelve committees have been established that will address all aspects of the fair and are hard at work developing a plan of action while not forgetting the long tradition. Wm. Penny, Alice Mathewson and Emma Whiting were selected as the Executive Committee members, John G. MacKenty, Program of Events and Tickets, Jane Newhall, Entry Clerk, Stephen C. Luce, Horse Show, Joe Walker and Everett Whiting Livestock, are the driving force to rejuvenate the popularity of that annual event.”
Happy birthday to: Amelia Kauffman, Elizabeth Orcutt and Jessica Francis today; Sharon Edell and Kevin Hopkins tomorrow; Judith Morse, Mo Bresnahan and Lindsay Webster on Sunday; Michael Oliveira and Caryn Broitman on Monday; Sherm Goldstein, William Knight, T.J. Hegarty and Kendall Chaves on Tuesday; David Rhoderick and Ken Rusczyk on Wednesday; Nancy Burleson, Alan Northcott, Chris West, Paige McCarthy and John Christensen on Thursday. Happy 47th wedding anniversary wishes on Monday to Dick and Diana Reische.
Well, that is all of the social news for this week’s edition. You have a choice of activities tonight, fireworks in Oak Bluffs or the fair. I’ll see you at the fair. If you have any news, please call or e-mail me. Have a great week.
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