Chilmark is in free fall already. The large number of weekend visitors that were in Menemsha last weekend was the clue. The weather was much more spring than summer but it didn’t seem to matter.

These few early weeks give all the businesses a chance to get in the groove for the busy months. The Galley will open May 18 and the Bite is shooting for Memorial Day. The Olivers are busy at the Menemsha Market and Betsy is hard at work at Larsen’s Fish Market. Another sure sign of spring was the selectmen’s annual walk around Menemsha...and they call it work! If we are lucky, they found a few more parking places! Not likely.

It was nice to see Judge Norman and Sue Stahl in town this weekend. They are spending more time at their Tea Lane home now that the threat of snow is past.

Bob and Bonnie George are at their Quansoo home after an off-Island adventure that took them from Connecticut to Pennsylvania and Maryland visiting all of their seven grandchildren.

Congratulations to the Grey Barn Farm on the unusual birth last week of a blue eyed calf...rare because the calf can see. I know the event is covered elsewhere in the paper but had to include this unusual event for Chilmark.

The Doctors Howard Harrison and Liz Burns are here from Florida for the upcoming seasons. They are currently at “Mildred’s House” on D.H.’s Hill and will move to their larger home on the hill when school is out and the grandchildren visit. Liz caught me up on the large family that includes 10 grandchildren now and I will share the news with you. The Harrison family members have grown up in Menemsha and have many friends here. Anne and Kevin Dunk’s son Patrick is graduating from Hobart College on Mother’s Day with honors. Their son Jack, who we all know and love, will resume work at Chilmark Chocolates soon. Their daughter Molly is completing her sophomore year at Concord Carlisle High School.

`Peter Harrison and his wife, Amy, have their hands full with three daughters, Elle, 7, and twins Hannah and Lucy, 6. Peter’s twin sister, Becky, and her husband, David Parker, have four teenage daughters. Sophie is at the University of Vermont, Meghan will be at Colby College in the fall, and twins Phoebe and Isabelle are juniors at Concord Carlisle High School. Kristen Harrison O’Brien and husband, Warren, live in Acton and have Keegan, who is at Acton High School. That catches you up on the Harrisons for a few minutes and they will all visit us this summer.

Betty Kogen sends word that her grandson, David, son of Andrew and Bonnie Kogen Brodnick of Tarrytown, N.Y., will marry Libby Mattern on June 17 at the Grange Hall in West Tisbury. Cheers to all!

The Martha’s Vineyard Library Association will sponsor the showing of a documentary called Screenagers: Growing up in the Digital Age on May 15 at 6:30 p.m. at the Performing Arts Center at the Regional High School. There will be a panel discussion afterward. The event is free and parents and youth are encouraged to come and take part in the discussion. This will be opportunity for parents and teenagers to explore the experience of the new age of living with the Internet and beyond.

Rizwan Malik, assistant director and youth services librarian at the Chilmark library, invites all to the Mini Maker Faire on May 13 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Ag Hall. It is family friendly event to make, create, craft and learn and promotes the idea that anyone can be a maker and that your local library can help you. There will be demonstrations and activities.

The Chilmark library has been hosting a series of lectures on Mid Century homes and the series can now be viewed on MVTV and online. Call the library at 508-645-3360 for details.

And, a footnote about the fate of the Great House on State Road...it was one of Chilmark’s historic houses with associated folklore back to the Revolutionary War. However, it was deemed beyond repair or restoration and was torn down this winter, but not before a great deal of detailed review. A new house stands in its place now and we hope it will build its own long Chilmark history.

Send Chilmark news to slaterjn@comcast.net.