As in last year’s Covid restrictions, there will not be an official Fourth of July parade or fireworks this year. Many Islanders have stepped up, as they did last year, to have an unofficial car/truck/ motorcycle/moped parade beginning at 11 a.m. on Sunday from the high school, down to Main street in Vineyard Haven, then West Chop, passing my house at about 11:20 a.m., on through Vineyard Haven, then on through many other Island roads and towns. I will be cheering them on.

We have a new story in the annals of entitled tourism. A person drove a bicycle into Stop & Shop and stayed on it throughout the aisles. You can’t make this stuff up.

Our beloved Martha’s Vineyard Book Festival will return this summer with a great lineup and limited outdoor seating. Tickets will be online soon at mvbookfestival.com. Some of the stellar authors appearing will be Senator Amy Klobuchar, Louis Menard, and Patricia Sullivan. This newspaper is a media partner with the beloved book festival. I’ll see you there.

Speaking of authors, Eric Jay Dolin’s hurricane classic A Furious Sky: the Five-Hundred-Year History of America’s Hurricanes, has been selected by the Massachusetts Center for the Book as one of the must-read titles for 2021. I must say: Eric Jay Dolin is one of my favorite authors.

Artist Gretchen Baer is back at mom Jacqueline Baer’s house for a brief vacation from her home in Bisbee, Arizona. Gretchen runs an art school, Studio Mariposa, just across the border in Sonora, Mexico. What talent in the Baer family!

Want my opinion on fake turf for the high school playing field? I am totally against it. Mark my words: this will come back to haunt us.

Our library continues to expand to pre-Covid hours. There is also an online class called Summer of Drawing; Tangled Vines, Island Crimes as a book discussion choice; and a forum on island coastal ponds. All are welcome.

Our condolences to Ray Blanchette and Bobbie Jo Sears on their cat, Bruin. He crossed the rainbow bridge last week.

The birthday bandwagon pulled along Ashley A. Byrd and Carly Simon on June 25th, Ruth Radcliffe claimed June 26 and Elizabeth Wood and Joshua Baker shared June 27. On June 28, Sam Decker took the cake. Many happy returns.