Business people report that there have been a lot of folks around and the traffic nearly impossible at times. It has definitely been busier than last year, and the beaches have been packed each day.

Last Friday night I hosted a 70th birthday celebration in the backyard for my wife Anna. She invited her family, friends, former co-workers at MVH (she retired on June 30). Charlie Kernick filled the air with Internet music for the party, while Nadine Barrett and her daughter prepared the food, Harry Athearn the tables and chairs and son Brian the ice. Nicole, Arsen and the grandchildren Robby, Henry Eddie and Mark’s son Sam — all the family pitched in to make it a very successful party. Even the weather cooperated.

Denise Mount, of Canton, Conn. came to attend the birthday party. She and my wife share the same July 12 birthday but she had to leave on Sunday.

Nina Berry, her husband Dieter Pohl, and Don Berry and his wife Christina came down to attend the party and returned home on Sunday.

John and Jacqueline Zeisel are at their home in Quansoo for a few weeks. They have been enjoying the beach and the beautiful weather.

The First Congregational Church’s annual Blueberry Festival will be held tomorrow from noon to 4 p.m. Enjoy blueberry treats at tables and chairs on the front lawn. Baked goods to go include blueberry/peach cobbler, blueberry pies, blueberry coffee cake and a lot more. You can also pick up something fabulous from the vintage jewelry table, find a treasure from the attic treasures sale or relax on the church lawn with lemonade sold by the Sunday school kids.

The Friends of the West Tisbury Library will hold their 62nd annual book sale starting next Friday, July 26, and continuing through Monday, July 29 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day. The sale will be held in the West Tisbury School gym on Old County Road. Any books not sold over the weekend are free on Monday morning. They would like to thank everyone for their generous donation of books.

Olivia Larsen over at the library reminds us that today at noon Island Grown Initiative (IGI) offers one of its free community lunches. IGI serves free lunches at the library on Tuesdays and Fridays and at other locations other days.

In July of 1969 our town became the first on the Island to have radar and two police cruisers. Police Chief George W. Manter reported that the radar unit had been in service for two weeks and the new cruiser was due to arrive any day. The new car was not intended to replace the 1965 model in use but was considerably more up to date. The new vehicle was a Ford station wagon designed not to tip at high speed and was equipped with a two-way radio and stretcher. Its cost was $4200. The portable radar unit, brought to the Island by the state police for a test, automatically records the speed of an oncoming car as much as a mile away from the parked cruiser. He said that radar, which cost $895, is a good psychological tool that will make the motorist think twice before speeding through town.

Happy birthday to: Erik Larsen, Laura Wainwright and Pamela Danz today; Laura Campbell, Karen Flynn and Jean Caron tomorrow; Joan Jenkinson, Maureen Healy, Paul Mahoney and Katie Hart on Sunday; Dan Bradley, Jesse Child, Lucy Norris and Larkin McBride on Monday; Mike Adell and Mike Hull on Tuesday; Hannah Elias, Patricia Favreau, Spencer Thurlow and Rebeka Shulman on Wednesday; Fran Bradley, Cynthia Mitchell and Charles Morgan on Thursday. Belated birthday wishes to John Zeisel.

Well that is all of the social news for this week’s column. If you have any news please call or e-mail me. Have a great week.

Send West Tisbury news to alleys@vineyard.net.