The Island Food Pantry will be open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 2 to 4 PM starting October 17.

For people coming more than once, please bring a letter of reference, written on letterhead, from clergy, medical staff, health care access or employer stating need from the Pantry and then you can come every two weeks.

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O Island Food Pantry será aberto nas segundas, quartas e sexta-feiras de 2-4pmcomeçando no dia 17 de outubro.

Call it a race to the top for the old pros. With four days left in the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish derby, two well-known tackle shop owners and former derby winners are in first place for shore bluefish and bass.

Cooper A. (Coop) Gilkes 3rd stills holds his spot in first place with a 34.34-striper caught from the shore last week. And on Columbus Day Stephen C. Morris moved into first place on the leaderboard 14.86-pound bluefish caught from the shore.

Count the ways chocolate lovers can indulge their passions starting Friday night at the Featherstone Center for the Arts. Chocolate martinis, chocolate bread pudding, chocolate mousse and old-fashioned s’mores are all on the menu at the Annual Art of Chocolate Festival.

The festival, celebrating its eighth year, was originated by Jeanne and Malcolm Campbell of Chilmark Chocolates as a fundraiser for Featherstone. The Campbells, as well as chefs from all over the Island, will provide chocolate treats for tasting.

New electronic gadgets bring to mind words such as hi-def, apps and smart. Old ones conjure up words like chemicals, metals, toxic and hazardous. And we have a lot of the old ones. The state’s Department of Environmental Protection reports that “Unwanted consumer electronics are the fastest-growing category of waste in Massachusetts. Until recently, Bay Staters were discarding an average of more than 900,000 units annually, but that number has increased due to the federally-mandated transition to digital television broadcasting.”

Responding to a public outcry over a proposal to close its reservations office near the airport, the Steamship Authority has come up with a plan to offer the same services at a counter in the airport terminal.

At its September meeting in Nantucket last Tuesday, the SSA Board directed General Manager Wayne C. Lamson to negotiate a five-year lease with the Martha’s Vineyard Airport Commission for counter and office space so it can continue to offer walk-in service for Island residents in the middle of the Island.

The future of the historic Tea Lane farmhouse will be in the hands of Chilmark voters at a special town meeting tonight as they decide whether or not to back a $550,000 project to restore the farmhouse and prepare the land for a tenant farmer.

The meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Chilmark Community Center. Longtime moderator Everett Poole will preside over the 11-article warrant.

This will be the second attempt to appropriate funds for the hilltop house which sits at the intersection of Tea Lane and Middle Road.

A leatherback turtle was found dead on the shore around Seven Gates in Chilmark, according to Gazette reader Tom Guiney. He estimated it was about six-and-a-half feet long and about 700 pounds. The cause of death was not apparent, he said in an e-mail.

Islanders who discover any stranded marine animals are urged to call the New England Aquarium’s 24-hour hotline, 617-973-5247.