Thanks to the patriotism and courage of people lining the route of Edgartown’s July Fourth parade, the Martha’s Vineyard Peace Council had many marchers this year.

Thank you so much to the honest, hardworking, helpful people of the Vineyard Transit Authority. You are heroes. You saved me seven years ago and again on Monday.

Oak Bluffs should not permit food trucks to compete with storefront businesses. Prices are high on Martha’s Vineyard because of real estate values and related high rental fees.

Allowing food trucks will damage existing businesses and drive them away.

We can’t punish these businesspeople, who are the lifeblood of our town.

We have only to see what a new Walmart store can do to a community to understand what unfair competition can do to local businesses.

I thought you might like a little history of Benny’s Barbershop in Oak Bluffs. My husband Mark decided that the Island needed another barbershop, so in the winter of 1991 he went to the co-op bank for a loan. Mr. Knight would not give it to him because he said it would never make it. So we took our life savings of $20,000 and found the building on Circuit avenue, rented it from Kim Cyrs (owner of Our Market) and went shopping. We shopped for vintage items, as we wanted it to resemble an old-fashioned shop.

From a story published May 6, 1966, by G. William Arnold: About fifteen years ago, not so very long ago, I grew up a boy in Edgartown. And part of the remembering of it all (at the ripe rip-snorting old age of 28) comes when I remember what isn’t anymore.

Once there was a different steamboat wharf in Edgartown, one that had a low peaked roof with grey gulls on it — and not that thing with a flat, boarded, picket-fenced, widow’s walk atop.

Well I thought we were melting but I guess it was just my imagination. It was one of the hottest Fourth of Julys I can remember. Now it is a little cooler but not by much. Wasn’t it yesterday that we were just complaining about how cold it was and we couldn’t wait for the warm weather?

I’ve been up very early these past few days but I still can’t beat the birds to the punch. Must be many worms to be had. I moved my coffee maker to our version of a clubhouse with the hope being that I might be dissuaded from consuming my first cup of cups before 5 a.m. I’m too smart to trick myself so I’ve taken to sitting on the small deck overlooking Cape Pogue’s tidal marsh, a fresh brew in hand, watching the air gain color and listening to the competing conversations of crows, robins and other feathery chit-chatters.

On a Sunday afternoon in July about 10 years ago the Beach Club was alive with excitement. Dexter Nerney had purchased blue sea glass at a gift shop during the off-season and brought it to the Vineyard. On that Sunday afternoon, he scattered it around the beach and then sat with some friends with his wonderful impish grin to watch the action.

The early summer heat and confounded traffic that snarled everywhere except the roundabout is making the Vineyard Transportation Authority’s #7, #9 and #13 Oak Bluffs buses into bargains, if not blessings. The apocryphal story I’ve heard is that due to the debris Hurricane Sandy dropped into the water along the Jersey shore, it’s too dangerous to swim, and vacationers have chosen the Island as a replacement destination.

Chilmark feels like August this week as I write on Tuesday evening — hot, muggy and very crowded. The Menemsha sunsets have been drawing big crowds and the beaches are well occupied every day by smart people trying to stay cool! What happened to July? I am hoping it is behind the fog that is hanging around the Elizabeth Islands!