Chilmark is moving into the holiday season with little regard to the weather. Mild and sunny days continue . . . the cold is only a slight hint of what is usual for this time of year. However, the plans are piling up and a sharp pencil is needed if we are to keep up with our holiday activities.

The Chilmark School will start things off with the annual Turkey Trot on Middle Road on Nov. 26.

There will be an indoor Farmers’ Market at the Agricultural Hall in West Tisbury tomorrow, Nov. 23 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. with hot luncheon available. All sorts of food and treats will be for sale to add to your holiday menus and gift lists.

Featherstone Center for the Arts presents their annual Gift Show opening tonight with a preview party from 6 to 8 p.m. and the show itself runs from Nov. 23 through Dec. 19 from noon to 4 p.m. For more information, go to their website featherstoneart.org.

The Vineyard Conservation Society has published its Conservation Almanac for the season and it can be found at vineyardconservation.org. There are some facts and figures that you will find interesting about global warming.

Some friends of the Martha’s Vineyard Museum are sponsoring an evening called What’s It Worth? with appraisers present from Skinner Auctions. The event is on Dec. 6 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the museum in Edgartown. Please call 508-627-4441, extension 117 for details.

The folks among us who work so hard for Haiti are offering their annual Peacecraft sale opening on Nov. 29 at 30 Main street in Vineyard Haven from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. This group is all-volunteer and nonprofit. If you can donate time or crafts for sale, please call 508-687-9709.

Here in Chilmark, plans are moving ahead for the Holiday Flea Market on Dec. 14 and 15 at the community center for the benefit of the Chilmark Church.

Nancy Aronie sends word that she will be conducting a workshop in Writing from the Heart at the Kripalu Center in Lenox on Dec. 20 through 22.

The Federated Church continues to work to maintain their historic 1832 Sara Mayhew parsonage with the fourth annual Festival of Wreaths sale. They will offer handmade wreaths, refreshments, raffles and more on Dec. 5 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the parish house at 45 South Summer street. Please call 508-627-4421 for details.

The Chilmark Firefighters Association is making plans for the annual visit from Santa to the children of Chilmark. Santa is lucky to have a resident elf here to prepare for the visit and make sure every child has a gift. Please contact Katy Carroll if you are new in town with children or have a newborn . . . Santa must know all. The visit is scheduled for Dec. 18 at the Chilmark Community Center.

Now, here is some chat about an event that actually took place in Chilmark this week. The U.S. Coast Guard conducted a public groundbreaking at the site of the soon to be built Menemsha boathouse replacing the boathouse that was destroyed by fire in 2010. It was a beautiful day and many folks from the neighborhood attended, as well as a sizable contingent of Coast Guard officials and enlisted men and women. Senior Chief Jason Olsen was the master of ceremonies and Captain John Kondratowicz, Commander, Sector Southeastern New England, made the official remarks. The present day Caost Guard is the combined Life Saving Service, Revenue Cutter Service (combined in 1915 and the Light House Service added in 1939).

Among those attending the ceremony were descendents of Chilmarkers who served in the U.S. Life Saving Service. Those who served were Everett A. Poole, grandfather of Everett H. Poole, USCG, ret. and Lindly W. Mayhew, grandfather of Elmore (Bud) Mayhew of Chilmark.

The Life Saving station at Gay Head was established on Dec. 20, 1895 and manned by a crew of local men from Chilmark and Gay Head. The seven men lived at the fully equipped station on the cliffs full time during the winter months. They served on call during the summer to allow them to go fishing. There was a boathouse that housed a surf boat for the crew at Pilot’s Landing in Gay Head. This boathouse was washed away in the 1938 hurricane. For a time, they maintained a motor surf boat in Menemsha basin. The Life Saving Station was transferred to the Coast Guard and eventually the building was torn down when the Coast Guard brought the station over from Cuttyhunk and set it up in Menemsha in 1952. It was called the Gay Head station until 1974 when it became the Menemsha station with a boathouse that had been built in Menemsha Basin after the ’38 hurricane.

It is anticipated that the new boathouse will be completed this summer with the ribbon cutting scheduled for July. We wish them good weather and good results leading to completion. It will be different but it will be the same. The tradition of a U.S, Life Saving Service/U.S. Coast Guard boathouse in Menemsha will continue and serve the new needs of the current generation.