Greetings, Tashard

Sherine Forbes and Tyrone Hutton of Oak Bluffs announce the birth of a son, Tashard Jabori Hutton, born on Feb. 14, 2009, at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Tashard weighed 7 pounds at birth.

Welcome Colette

Colette Grace Dampier was born on Jan. 20 at the Aspen Valley Hospital in Aspen, Colo., weighing 8 lbs. 4 oz, and 21.5 inches long. The proud parents are Susan and LeRoy Dampier of Carbondale, Colo., formerly of the Vineyard. The grandparents are Sue Craver of Chilmark and Joe Doherty of Salem.

JUNE D. MANNING

508-645-2574

(lthslnks@gis.net)

The weekend was rather blustery to say the least. A strong northeast wind prevailed from Saturday night through to Monday, leaving half a foot of snow in most places around Aquinnah. The temperature has remained well below freezing and driveways are thick ice. Many of our neighbors returned from their warmer clime vacations this week and we will all proclaim Spring is on the way!

Opening Night Program begins at 7 p.m. at the Chilmark Community Center

7 p.m. Life. Support. Music. (Documentary 79 minutes U.S.A. 2009 directed by Eric Daniel Metzgar)

The Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival is inviting Island high school students to participate in the first ever MVFF High School Critics Challenge. Students currently enrolled at the high school and interested in film are asked to submit essays that address, in no more than 250 words, “The importance of film in today’s culture.” The deadline for submissions is March 11. From the essays submitted, four finalists will be selected to receive all-access passes to all of the festival’s 14 featured films.

A guitar and banjo player, Tony Furtado mixes modern music with the traditional, creating a distinctive sound.

By the age of 19, Mr. Furtado earned himself a reputation as a young banjo prodigy, winning two National Bluegrass Banjo Championships. Despite the press and praise as one of the most promising bluegrass artists, Mr. Furtado decided that one genre wasn’t enough for him. Creatively, he had something more to express. “I don’t think I could ever be happy staying in any one place musically,” he said.

Wendy Weldon Retrospective

A retrospective of paintings by Wendy Weldon will be on exhibit from Feb. 28 through April 4 at the Chilmark Public Library. There will be new work as well as older paintings, all of which have never been exhibited before on the Vineyard. Paintings from her Shrine series, her Bed and Lamp series and her Personal Memoirs series will be included in the show.

An artist’s reception will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, March 7 at the library. All are welcome.

Dr. Michael Jacobs will speak on Staying Healthy in the Marine Environment: Managing the Fearsome Five at Sail MV’s third winter dinner/lecture at the Black Dog Tavern on Wednesday, March 11, at 6 p.m.

Dr. Jacobs, a lifelong sailor, is director of Vineyard Medical Services and has been a consultant to yachtsmen, sailors, commercial mariners and the U.S. Coast Guard for more than 30 years. He is the author of numerous papers and teaches medicine for mariners and safety at sea.

The audience at the Katharine Cornell starts tittering the moment Coleman Conner (Chris Brophy) swaggers onstage. Hips thrust forward, jaw slack, malevolent halfwit eyes groping around the room for something to steal or mangle, he manages to make his trip from the doorway to the liquor cabinet into one continuous promise: we are in for a treat.

Habitat for Humanity of Martha’s Vineyard will hold an Empty House Tour on Saturday, March 7, from noon to 3 p.m. at the Captain Mellon House, an 18th century whaling captain’s home, located at 105 Main street, the corner of Main street and Pease’s Point Way in Edgartown.

The public is invited to tour the house to see the “before” state of this historic home, which will undergo a complete makeover by Vineyard interior decorators and landscapers beginning on March 9.