The worst-kept secret of the summer is out: the first family will return to Martha’s Vineyard to vacation at the end of August.

The White House confirmed on Friday what Islanders in the know have been whispering for weeks now: a year after their much-hyped and ultimately anticlimactic first presidential visit, the Obamas will return to the Vineyard on August 19 for a 10-day vacation. The current plan calls for the Obamas to leave the Island on August 29.

President Obama and his family quietly left the Vineyard late Friday night, curtailing their vacation in anticipation of Hurricane Irene.

A temporary flight restriction plan devised by Vineyard airport officials for President Obama’s summer vacation is being hailed as a model for airports across the country to use during future visits by the President and his traveling entourage.

Faraway, tectonic plates clenched uneasily, brutal regimes held on tenuously and a hurricane gathered confidence, but on Martha’s Vineyard it was still vacation for President Obama and his family.

From a podium bearing the presidential seal set up before a grove on Blue Heron Farm, President Obama spoke to the people of Libya yesterday, saying, “An ocean divides us, but we are joined in the basic human longing for freedom, for justice and for dignity.”

President Obama made a brief appearance Saturday evening at the home of his former law school professor, Dr. Charles J. Ogletree Jr., for what was described by the White House as a social event.

About a hundred people attended the event, according to pool reports, and small crowds waved flags along nearby streets as the President’s motorcade drove to Oak Bluffs.

Vineyard author Ward Just’s latest novel is among President Obama’s reading choices for his summer vacation on the Island.

In addition to purchasing several books for his daughters Friday during a visit to Bunch of Grapes bookstore in Vineyard Haven, the President bought two books for himself: The Bayou Trilogy, a collection of three short noir novels by Daniel Woodrell; and Rodin’s Debutante, Mr. Just’s coming-of-age novel set in Chicago where he grew up, the White House said.

President Obama arrived on the Vineyard yesterday afternoon to begin a 10-day vacation with his family, marking his third consecutive August visit to the Island during his presidency. Like the last two years, the arrival was low-key and closed to the public. Traveling with the President were White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan and deputy press secretary John Earnest, White House trip director Marvin Nicholson, White House photographer Pete Souza, and the family dog, Bo, freshly groomed for the trip.

President Obama arrived on the Vineyard yesterday afternoon to begin a 10-day vacation with his family, marking his third consecutive August visit to the Island during his presidency. Like the last two years, the arrival was low-key and closed to the public. Traveling with the President were White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan and deputy press secretary John Earnest, White House trip director Marvin Nicholson, White House photographer Pete Souza, and the family dog, Bo, freshly groomed for the trip.

President Barack Obama and the First Family are expected to return to the Vineyard in a little over a week for their third consecutive summer vacation on the Island.

The White House press office yesterday could not officially confirm the dates of the president’s arrival. But it is understood that Mr. Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and their two children will visit the Vineyard between August 17 and August 28 this year. The expected arrival date is understood to be August 18.