For the first time in recent years, parts of Sengekontacket Pond will be open for shellfishing at least through June.

On Tuesday, May 22, Jim Thomas takes the helm of the Vineyard Haven Libraries’ Civil War Series. Mr. Thomas’ specialty is slave songs and the underground railroad and he has given musical presentations on spirituals in Germany, Africa, Brazil, Sweden, Austria, and America, not to mention Martha’s Vineyard. He has also served as a soloist with the Paul Hill Chorale and Washington Singers at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and founded the American Red Cross Chorus and has served as its director since 1976.

Save the date for the family planning art show held on Memorial Day weekend.

The event takes place at the Agricultural Hall in West Tisbury and
includes paintings, sculpture, photography, jewelry, maybe even a cow
turned painter; it is the Ag Hall, after all.

The opening gala is on Thursday, May 24, from 6 to 8 p.m. Tickets
are $50 and can be purchased at the door. The sale continues all weekend long, Friday through Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day. Admission is free.

For more information, call 508-696-0459 or visit friendsoffamilyplanning.org.

The Minnesingers regional high school singing troupe is turning 45-years-old. To celebrate, as part of their spring performance this weekend, they are taking a tour down memory lane. One of the numbers will be a medley of songs performed over the past near half-century. The group will also perform the Seven Deadly Sins through song and dance.

Showtimes are Friday, May 19, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, May 20, at 3 p.m. All shows take place at the Performing Arts Center at the Regional High School.

Tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for students and seniors.

A condemned, dilapidated building off Water street in Vineyard Haven will be the next project for the Island Housing Trust thanks to Steve Bernier, the owner of Cronig’s Market, who announced Friday he had donated the house to the trust.

It’s the start of a new chapter for Edgartown Books, the Main street bookstore that will reopen next week under new ownership.

Jeffrey and Joyce Sudikoff, Los Angeles residents who own a home in Edgartown, are the new owners of the Main street building and the business. The sale closed on Friday. Purchase price was not disclosed.

Mr. Sudikoff was the founder and chief executive officer of IDB Communications Group Inc., and a former part owner of the Los Angeles Kings hockey team.

Martha's Vineyard is better than Nantucket! At least, that's the
opinion of the folks at familyvacationcritic.com. The Web site has
compiled a list of the 10 best islands in the United States, and ranks
Martha's Vineyard number 8, one spot ahead of Nantucket. Amelia
Island, located off the coast of northeastern Florida, nabbed the top
spot.

In Oak Bluffs, changes in a traffic pattern have a neighborhood physically divided, and some up in arms.

Last November, motivated by concerns about safety and lack of parking, the selectmen approved redirecting traffic on part of Dukes County avenue to flow one-way toward the harbor between Masonic avenue and Wing Road. Before, the narrow street had a two-way traffic flow as well as parking on one side of the street.

A year after the Tisbury conservation commission discovered what it called the worst wetlands violation in decades, the town board, as well as the state Department of Environmental Protection, have come down hard on a West Chop homeowner responsible for dredging 11,600 square feet and filling in 1,235 square feet of wetlands at Mink Meadows Pond without a permit.

West Tisbury is on the road to becoming a Green Community.

The town is in the final stages of creating a plan to reduce energy use by 20 per cent over the next five years, with the goal of becoming designated a Green Community under the 2008 state Green Communities Act. The designation allows towns to receive special grant funding for energy efficiency studies and improvements to town buildings, among other things.

The town of Tisbury is pursuing the same designation.