Well we had a rain and windstorm on Sunday. We lost power for three hours and all the morning boats were cancelled, but by noontime we were back on track and preparing for a busy week. Welcome to the summer season and all the excitement it brings along with it. June brought us a few days of needed rain, but a fire was needed several evenings earlier this month to take the chill out of the house. If you went downtown for any reason last weekend the traffic was brutal everywhere; just about every building in town is now occupied, the buses are comfortably full, and the planes and boats are crowded. Many backyard cook-outs will be held all around town Friday and Saturday evening, weather permitting. This is the start of a long holiday weekend. The post office will be closed Saturday and the library and most other municipal buildings will be closed Friday and Saturday.

The annual Independence Day parade in downtown Edgartown steps off promptly at 5 p.m. Saturday. Do yourself, and your family, a big favor and make getting to the parade and fireworks a whole lot easier by taking the bus to Edgartown and avoiding traffic gridlock. Main street will be closed down to all automobile traffic at 3 p.m. but the buses will be diverted to a convenient location near Memorial Park. At 7 p.m. they will return to their regularly-scheduled stop on Church street. Call 508-693-9440 for more information.

Lambert’s Cove beach stickers are being sold at the shed over at the town tennis courts, next to the school, daily from 9 a.m. to noon, the weekend hours are 4 to 7 p.m. this year.

Stevie Kernick of Edgartown Road has joined the fitness staff at the Airport Fitness Center. She was formerly a certified Jazzercise instructor in North Carolina, and is teaching a Cardio Move class that includes both cardio and strength work for women and men of all ages.

Up at the Blue Barque on South Road, Dan Leventritt and Jen Wool entertained Jen’s mother, Bev, and her friend Clarissa Townsend who were visiting from Vermont over the weekend. The family spent time relaxing at Hancock Beach with Herbie, the resident seal, and admired the oystercatchers and plovers from a distance.

The Alley household will see an influx of visitors for the Fourth of July weekend. Daughter Nicole, her husband Arsen and grandchildren Robbie and Henry from East Taunton, Nina Berry and her son Nick from Providence, and son Sam arrived home last week.

Perry Garfinkel reports that though he moved from the Island four years ago, and has since settled in Berkeley, Calif., his heart and soul still reside off Music street, where he was happily ensconced for some six years doing the Vineyard shuffle in the Milton Mazer House off Look’s Pond Way. It is where he wrote the nationwide bestseller Buddha or Bust and participated in other indulgences. He will be returning to the Island the end of August to lead a five-day immersion travel writing workshop at Noepe Center for Literary Arts. Off-Island participants can stay at the center, the former Point Way Inn on Main Street in Edgartown, for a fee that includes a room and his workshop. For more information and registration call Justen Ahren at (508) 560-0467. Perry will be staying at the home of friend and former landlord Mark Mazer, and the rumor is he will be hosting a reunion party for Island friends he made during the years he was here.

Don and Marcia Klepper-Smith of Durham, Conn., are concluding their annual two-week vacation at their Old County Road home this weekend. Don is the chief economist and director of research of DataCore Partners, LLC. Marcia reports that they enjoyed a visit from her relatives from Beaumont, Tex.

About 60 invited guests are expected to attend the annual night before the Fourth of July party at the home of Woollcott and Leah Smith down in Tiah’s Cove Friday. Their many friends and neighbors will enjoy the evening and a wonderful dinner. A Smith party to bring in the Fourth is rapidly becoming the “in thing” to be invited to.

Paul Karasik, nationally famous cartoonist, has a cartoon in this week’s New Yorker magazine.

On July 2, 1954 a large group of people gathered for the dedication ceremony of the newly-constructed Congregational Church parish house. The Rev. William Thompson, former minister, wished the church and the new parish house well and set three goals he hoped for the building: friendliness, individuality, and growth. The current pastor, Rev. Neil Howard, led the congregation in prayer and the choir sang Bless This House. Rev. Howard gave a fine tribute to the late Frank B. Wight for all he had done for the church and expressed sorrow that he did not live to witness the dedication ceremony of the parish house that he had worked so hard to make a reality. The building was constructed to match the church. It had a meeting room, pastor’s study, kitchen and restrooms. The interior furnishings were made possible by donations from the Grange and the Church Improvement Society.

Happy birthday to: Allison McKinley, Michelle Marks and Marissa Kaeka Friday, Pat Goodell, Jane Hawkes, David Bouck, Daniel Greenberg and Sandra Clark Saturday, Dan Whiting, Bob Gray and Abigail Bailey on Sunday, David Douglas, Bart Smith, Amelia Espy and Emma Kiley on Monday, David McCullough, Mary Lu Keep and Sarah Pallatroni on Tuesday, John Mayhew 3rd, Sarah Cottle, William Austin and Andrew Gardner on Wednesday, Devin Church, Robert Blanchard and Laurie Turney on Thursday.

Happy anniversary to the famous Webster socialites, Ed and Jane Konicki, on Thursday. Jim Irwin and Lynn Buckmaster-Irwin are celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary Friday. Belated anniversary wishes to David Lewis and his wife Danica Kombol as well as Ed Levine and Vicky Bijur.

Well that is all of the social news for this week’s column. If you have any news please call or e-mail me. A happy and safe Fourth of July and see you at the parade. Have a great week.

Send West Tisbury news to alleys@vineyard.net.