If the Fourth of July arrives and there are no Edgartown fireworks or parade will it really count? Of course it will. Covid lingers in its cancellation of the traditional celebration but all over the Island other seeds are sprouting. And because all roads do not only lead to Edgartown this year, there is ample opportunity to check out what else the Island has to offer on Independence Day.

Start up in Aquinnah perhaps, for a much smaller, annual parade. Floats line up at Moshup Trail at 9 a.m. The parade begins at 10 a.m. with the official firing of the McDonald Canon.

From there head over to Menemsha, not for anything official, but just because it is there and it is beautiful and to stroll along the docks with a fishing rod, some bait and a small child is a type of independence that never goes out of style.

Moving down-Island, stop by the Agricultural Hall grounds for some peace and quiet, the busyness of Saturday’s Farmers’ Market replaced by a young man, his dog and a Frisbee, along with some hawks circling above, hunting for voles and various other varmints.

In Oak Bluffs, Union Chapel opens its summer Sunday season at 10 a.m. with Valerie Smith, president of Swarthmore College, and the Tabernacle service in the Campgrounds is led at 9:30 a.m. by Rev. John Tamilio III of the Congregational Church of Canton,

In Edgartown bless the fleet at 4 p.m. at the Mayhew Parsonage of the Federated Church. Then wander over to Memorial Wharf to watch the Chappy Ferry go to and fro, and to and fro, and to and fro. Do this for exactly one hour and all your troubles will evaporate in the late afternoon mist. Honest.

And finally, turn to the night sky, while standing or sitting or lying down on a blanket that smells of sand and salty oceans, and wink at the stars as they remind you of how truly small you are and not really very independent at all, because being together again, in community, hugging and holding hands, is so much more fun.