Although we aren’t the traditional costume parade party at the Chilmark Community Center, the Chilmark Volunteer Firefighter’s Association invites Chilmark kids — both resident and school — to stop by the center on Monday, Oct. 31 between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. for photos and goodie bags. Firefighters and their trucks will be parked front and center with hay bales, pumpkins, cornstalks, gourds, lights and a few creepy decorations. It’s a great starting point for kids to gather so parents can snap a few photos before setting off into the night in search of candy.

There are a number of homes and businesses who will have the lights on between Beetlebung Corner and Menemsha Texaco. This year, as an added bonus, thanks to Officer Liz Rogers, the Chilmark police cruiser and the Tri-Town Ambulance response vehicle will join in with trick or trunk set-ups. Thanks to paramedic Matt Montanille for coordinating things, too.

It’s not too late to join in the fun. Give me a shout, text, call or email and, in return, I’ll give you the scoop. That old saying is true: it takes a village to raise a child and our town’s children are lucky to have all of you.

Congratulations to Bella Thorpe and her horse, Bella Ymas, on their third place win at the New England Dressage Association Region 8 Championships. The event took place over a period of four days at HITS-on-the-Hudson in Saugerties, N.Y. Bella is not only performing beautifully with her horse but she’s knocking the ball out of the park in her sophomore year at University of Vermont.

The MVRHS girls varsity soccer team has made it into the final playoffs. With Delilah Oliver, daughter of Liz and Kevin, in the net they are in good hands. According to her mom, this is the first time in twenty years the girls soccer team has made it this far. After a tough and unfortunate 0-1 loss to Falmouth a few days ago, the gals are ready to take on their Island rival. They’ll face off to Nantucket at 10:30 a.m. with a home field advantage. Cheer them on!

Ginny Jones’s shop Foc’s’le Locker is open Thursday through Sunday afternoons from about 1 to 5 p.m. Sadly, she shared the word that this will be her last season and she’ll be closing up shop around Christmas. I stopped in one quiet afternoon this past week and had the pleasure of poking through many of her great titles and finding a few I can’t wait to turn the pages of.

The walls are lined with stacks of really interesting books, including a lot of Island and/or islands-related books, maritime books, fiction and mysteries, quirky garden and architectural books, cookbooks, kids’ books and more. She has titles by the noteworthy Gale Huntington, Phyllis Meras, Henry Beetle Hough, Nelson Bryant, Kathleen Moore Knight, Linsey Lee, George Fred Tilton, Emma Whiting, Eleanor Ransome Mayhew and more.

Not only did I take home some treasures but I had the chance to shoot the breeze with Ginny and Bill Healy, who wandered in a bit before I did. It was the best afternoon I’d had in quite a while.

The West Tisbury School’s English exchange students have been out and about this past week with their Vineyard counterparts. They made a pit stop in Menemsha as they bussed around to see all of the Island highlights. What a truly fabulous 35-plus year experience our eighth graders get to have.

Snowbird Uncle Don Smith departed from his Harbor Hill home and headed to his winter residence in F-L-A. This time, he didn’t sit in the passenger seat of his Kia Soul, but he took to the skies with daughter Robin by his side. What fun these two have together and how lucky they got to make the journey as a team.

Roberta Morgan celebrated her ninety-third birthday this past week. There wasn’t a huge amount of fanfare since it wasn’t a birthday that ended in zero or five, but there was just enough love and fanfare to warm the heart.