By the time the Gazette hits the newsstands on Friday I will have spent the first half of my two-week trip to the West Coast. The first day here I dipped my toes in the Pacific Ocean at Half Moon Bay. Pretty cold! The chilly southerly flowing California current is the opposite of our northerly flowing warm Gulf Stream. According to the local surf report and wetsuit advisory, the seawater temperature on Monday was only 53 degrees fahrenheit. The temperature of the water coming out of the cold water faucets on Martha’s Vineyard and Chappaquiddick is about 55 degrees. Imagine how chilly you would get if you could actually get yourself in to it, immersing yourself in a bathtub filled with straight cold water. There were a few folks sitting on surfboards. All had wetsuits on.

The Chappy Store, now called Jerry’s Place, will be open daily 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. starting this weekend. You can keep up to date by following jerrysplaceonchappy on Instagram or Jerry’s Place on Chappy on Facebook. They will be providing sandwiches, salads, drinks, snacks and ice cream, just to name a few of the items.

The Chappaquiddick Community Center will have a welcome-back potluck supper on Wednesday, June 27 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. hosted by Katie Kidder and Tom Kent. Please bring a dish for six or more.

Remember that on Wednesday, July 4, Chappaquiddick ferry service is interrupted during the parade and fireworks. Beginning at 4:15 p.m. no vehicles will be carried as the route through town to and from the ferry is blocked by the parade route.

The ferry will still carry passengers and bikes. After the end of the parade passes the top of Daggett street at around 6 p.m. there is a flood of parade-watchers lining up to return to Chappy. The entire street fills up with people. The ferry takes a group of 49 passengers every five minutes. No vehicles are carried until that crowd is cleared. If the weather is favorable that can take as many as eight trips. So plan accordingly for no vehicles on the ferry from 4:15 p.m. through 6:45 p.m.

During the fireworks, the ferry ceases operation altogether. The fireworks usually begin just after 9 p.m. and continue for about three-quarters of an hour depending on how extensive and how quickly this year’s display is. After the fireworks end, there is another flood of folks lining up on Chappy Point to return to town. So plan accordingly for no passengers on the ferry from 9 to 9:45 p.m. and for no vehicles on the ferry from 8:45 to 10 p.m.

Mark your calendars for Saturday, July 7 for the Chappy Island Association meeting at the CCC. Coffee is served at 8 a.m. with the meeting starting at 9 a.m.

Lily Walter of Slip Away Farm sent out the following newsletter to CSA members which I share with you. The Slip Away farm stand is open Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

She writes: “I found myself harvesting for the farm stand in shorts Saturday morning, a sure sign that summer has arrived on Chappy. It snuck up on me a bit this year. This spring was fairly cool and quite rainy. It felt long, and each time I found myself thinking that steady warmth had arrived, we would have a sudden dip in temperatures. Even just last week we had nighttime temps down in the low 40s, low enough for me to be a little concerned about a late season frost on the stiller evenings. Some of the warmer-weather crops are looking a little stressed in the fields, but we have a good stretch of warm weather now and we should start to see things take off.

Thank you to all who filled out our events survey last week; we received some helpful feedback and it generated a few new ideas. When we started Slip Away seven years ago, I envisioned the farm as a place that produced really great food and also served as a gathering place for the Chappy community. Over the years we have hosted many events, and I have always loved the opportunity to bring neighbors together at the farm. I am pretty excited to find even more ways of doing this in the future. For now, we are excited to be adding two new workshops this summer. On July 21, we will be hosting a flower arranging workshop and on August 1 we will be hosting a pickling and fermentation workshop. Please mark your calendars. We’ll send out more information once we get closer to the day-of.”

Chappaquidick news can be sent to peterchappyferry@gmail.com.