Out of profound respect for the health of staff and friends/customers, Sundog remained closed during most of our 50th anniversary year of 2020.

For years we declined participation in the retail end-of-season sale tradition. Instead we remained open year-round, keeping the flag flying here on Main street, Edgartown. During those years we promised those friends/customers that in our 50th year, we would have a whopping thank you sale. But when the time came in 2020, the pandemic ruled out celebration.

When we reopened in May of 2021, staff disruptions again said no way and pandemic concerns confirmed no deal.

Then came January 2022, this year. But for the second time in 12 months, serious structural problems at 41 Main street as well as the loss of our lease dating back over 35 years, precluded any hope of having a thank you sale this winter.

So, in memory of Don Macdonald and Tommy DeMont, two remarkable Edgartown artists, we have donated the entire inventory to a new Island nonprofit, Act Two, to help them get started in pursuit of the arts with focus on theater and promising youth. They will operate a second-hand retail enterprise essentially satisfying the need previously satisfied by the Boys & Girls Club. The former management are the founding partners of Act Two.

Sundog’s entire inventory, including odds and ends familiar to passersby over 51 years, will be available at inflation-busting prices, along with the same hospitality for which both Kevin Ryan and Alissa Keenan are known. They are destined to a good start at 66 Main street, Vineyard Haven, next door to Rainy Day.

Any donations you may choose to make would, I am sure, be most gratefully received and appreciated by this new local focus on Island arts during this time of cultural upheaval.

The arts are one of the clearest hopes for preserving what is left of that innocence Emily Post fondly referenced when speaking of Edgartown as being immersed in the day before yesterday.

In the meantime, yes, Frank is still a potential player — and thank you for all those fabulous friendships.

Frank Folts Sr.

Edgartown