Chilmark will be happy to see the sun. We have grown tired of saying we need the rain...of course we do but so much for too much of a good thing.

Chilmark school honored those gone before us with their traditional march to the water and the tossing of flowers in the harbor as a remembrance and salute to our fallen military. As always, it was a solemn and reverent event. The Chilmark Community Church held their annual blessing of the fleet on Sunday in the Menemsha parking lot accompanied by a bagpiper and a Coast Guard honor guard. And so the new season begins.

There were many visitors to town, wedding tents were up and there was a general buzz in the air along with the raindrops. Many seasonal residents came for the weekend to open their homes and renew their Island connections.

Welcome to our new fulltime Chilmark police officer. Elizabeth Rogers is already on the job. Some will remember her as Elizabeth Hourihan who served Chilmark in 2015. She has been a police officer in Vineyard Haven for the past two years. Welcome back and cheers from us all.

Selectman Warren Doty and his wife, Nan, are home after an enjoyable week spent touring two Canadian cities. They spent four days in Montreal and four days in Quebec. They visited museums and restaurants and Warren confessed to trying out his French on occasion.

We are awaiting the next posts from Bradley Carroll who is now in Adelaide, Australia. She endured a delay in her solo trip out in Los Angeles but is now onsite for her five-week study program. She is the daughter of Marshall and Katie Carroll of Chilmark. It is hard not to be excited for this Chilmark girl so far from home!

The Chilmark Community Church will host one more pizza night next Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. and next week will feature a spaghetti dinner to conclude the weekly community dinners, to be continued in the fall.

Congratulations to Margaret Maida’s granddaughter, Chelsea Maida, of Ocala, Fla., who graduated in May from the College of Central Florida. She celebrated with a visit last week with Margaret at her home on the Menemsha Crossroad. Chelsea’s guest, Phillip Baer, accompanied her on the trip from Florida.

Ed Sussman and Dana Nunes are back in town after a winter of travel in New Zealand. While there they visited Cris and Lesley Neumann and their boys who are currently living in Manapoauri, New Zealand. Cris is the son of Conrad and Jane Neumann, Ed’s Menemsha neighbors.

Ed Greenebaum and Joan Caulton of Bloomington, Ind. are at their Menemsha home for an early summer visit.

Jeffery Maida and Anita Smith traveled to San Francisco last week to attend the graduation of Anita Smith’s son, Justin Smith. Cheers from us all.

Monday, May 22 was a big day for Calder, Caitlin and Maeve Cook-Martin as they moved out of Jon and Marie Scott’s house on South Road and into their new home down the road at 10 Ridge Hill Road. Caitlin is the daughter of Peter and Sally Cook. Congratulations to them all.

Jon and Marie Scott will be in residence all summer at the South Road Scott compound. Marie has arrived from Vermont and John will come when his courses are completed at Castleton State College in Vermont.

Peter and Sally Cook enjoyed a visit from their nephew, David Sculley, and his wife, Jessica and their daughter Sofia, all residents of Cambridge. David ran the half marathon on May 21 and they enjoyed the weekend visit with family.

Anne Cook, daughter of Peter and Sally, is having a show of her paintings at the Vineyard Playhouse Art Space. The works may be viewed from 2 to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday and Friday through June 8 at the Playhouse in Vineyard Haven.

Brian and Caroline Giles of New Hampshire have opened their cottage on Tea Lane for the season. They report that they were happy to be here for Beach Cleanup Day this year and participated with pleasure. They have been coming to their cottage for 47 years They value their many Chilmark friends and connections.

The Martha’s Vineyard Seacoast Defense Chapter of the Daughter’s of the American Revolution is offering a unique service this month that some may want to take advantage of: they are offering document shredding on Saturday, June 17 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the high school parking lot. The cost is $15 cash for every six bags or boxes of materials. No appointments necessary, just show up with bags and boxes.

The Chilmark library will offer the second part of Valerie Sonnenthal’s Get Body Sense program. It is called Moving Beyond Exercise: An Introduction to Nutritious Movement. The program is on June 7 at 5:30 p.m. at the library.

As I conclude this column midweek the sun is shining after the usual morning showers. As we like to quote: Let the games begin!

Send Chilmark news to slaterjn@comcast.net.