Chilmark has been reminded that it is a small town in a big country as the word has reached us that the Army Corps of Engineers will indeed be dredging the channel between Menemsha Pond and the Sound. It is the considered opinion of many of the local fishermen that such dredging will be detrimental to the local shellfish lifestyle, but they have been overruled. The dredged channel will provide easier access to the pond, thus a concession to the tourist industry. Once more the tourist interests trumps the food chain . . . not the first time. We will learn to work around the difficulties.

This Saturday is the 22nd annual Earth Day beach cleanup day sponsored by the Vineyard Conservation Society. The pick up will be from 10 a.m. to noon and the after party will be at the Harbor View Hotel in Edgartown from noon to 2 p.m. There will be treats from Harbor View and Scottish Bakehouse and more entertainment. Please go to vineyardconservation.org for more details.

The Chilmark Community Church will hold Good Friday services tonight from 5:30 to 6:15 p.m. The Easter Vigil will be on Saturday from 5:30 to 6:15 p.m. On Easter Sunday the service will be at 9 a.m., with the traditional Easter egg hunt for children after the service. All are welcome to attend.

We send best wishes to Ginny Jones, faithful town hall employee, who is at her West Tisbury home this week getting used to her new knee following surgery at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital last week. We all wish you well, Ginny, and hope to see you out and about soon!

The Women’s Symposium will meet on April 26 at the community center from 9 a.m. to noon. The theme this time is Dreams, and there will be speakers, discussions and refreshments. Donations are welcome to cover expenses. This will be the 33rd meeting of the twice-a-year symposium.

Bill and Zee Gamson are happy to be home after an exciting vacation with family and friends in San Francisco. They enjoyed many gatherings with meals and sightseeing and most of all,time spent with their two granddaughters. The festivities included a celebration of Bill’s birthday. Cheers from us all!

Best wishes to our selectman, Jonathan Mayhew, who is recuperating at home after suffering a broken leg. We hope he’ll be out and about soon.

The selectmen agreed at their meeting this week to extend the dates for The Food Truck in Chilmark. Josh Aronie is been granted permission to move the truck to the Home Port Restaurant parking lot for daily use until May 2. Josh has been chosen to be the chef for the Home Port Restaurant this coming summer; their opening date to be announced. Many Chilmarkers will agree with that choice! Good luck, Josh!

Joan Malkin is volunteering to run for the planning board and hoping that people will write in her name on the ballots on April 30. She has been serving on a planning board subcommittee for some months now and was involved in the writing of the big house bylaw. We are always happy to have capable people volunteer for town jobs.

Services and burial for Katherine Tilton Teel will be at the Abel’s Hill Cemetery on Saturday, April 19, at 11 a.m., and all are invited to a luncheon at the Teel home in Menemsha following the interment.

Now a word or two about why there was no column last week. I followed the instincts of other Chilmarkers and fled to another island, although warmer. My Australian cousin visited again and renewed her Chilmark connection and then we headed for some sunshine. We spent four exciting days in Bermuda. If I were to invent a tourist vacation island it would be Bermuda . . . so friendly, unpressured and colorful. It truly was a step back to the 1980s with few cell phones and no hustles.

And this will be the last of the flower tours for this season but if you aren’t here you might be happy to know that all the daffodils are in full bloom now and nodding in the brisk winds of April. There are beautiful displays all over town. Two worth checking out are the Jenkinson blooms on North Road and the large patch of yellow at the Larsen home on Beetlebung corner. Now the magnolias are beginning to bloom and soon the forsythia will be everywhere, so the gray of winter has been replaced and we are looking good!