To keep the New Year party going all weekend, there will be a potluck jam at the Chilmark Community Center on Saturday, Jan. 3, beginning at 5 p.m.

The town selectmen approved funding for a new vestibule and are talking seriously about replacing the oak floor, which has been buckling for years.

By the time the lights came up after the screening last Wednesday of Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine, most of the audience was in tears. The film tells the story of Matt Shepard, an openly gay student at the University of Wyoming who was brutally murdered in 1998.

What could be better than books and the beach? How about books and the people who wrote them, near the beach.

Chilmark offers some of the lowest rates on the Island for community events. But local groups ranging from the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Music Society to the Rotary Club could soon find themselves needing to hold their events elsewhere.

Farmers share their experiences at a Slow Food farmers brunch on Sunday, Feb. 9 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Chilmark Community Center.

Connected. Privileged. Honored. Thankful. Full.

Those were a few of the words the Chilmark School fourth and fifth grade class used in their class blessing at the school’s community lunch Friday afternoon. The lunch was the last of the school year in a series of gatherings organized by Island Grown Schools and volunteers.

Save the date for next Saturday, Feb. 9, when the Chilmark School holds its annual winter fundraiser. The party will be held at the Chilmark Community Center. Johnny Hoy and the Bluefish provide the backbeat.

The fundraiser is from 7 to 11:30 p.m. That’s way past Chilmark midnight (8 p.m.) but, hey, time to step up and stay up for a good cause.

The cost is $15 at the door or online at ticketsmv.com/chilmark.

A love of the arts is just one aspect of the Vineyard that sets it apart from other communities.

And on Saturday Islanders who love the arts will have the opportunity to attend a free concert titled Drops in the Stream: A Concert of Music, Poetry, and Dance. Performed by the Row Twelve Music Ensemble at the Chilmark Community Center. The concert is the brainchild of Chilmark resident Frederic Hotchkiss and the result of a community collaboration to bring a fusion of music and performing arts to the Vineyard.

Terra Madre Day is here today. Are you ready? And do you even know what it is?

Well, it’s a global mother earth celebration created by the slow food movement. This year’s focus is on the thousand days initiative that aims to develop community and school food gardens across Africa.

Here on the Island the day is being celebrated with a slow food potluck tonight from 6 to 10 p.m. at the Chilmark Community Center. The event is a gastronomical coming together as well as a benefit. All proceeds go to the Thousand Days initiative.