Downtown Edgartown was packed Saturday with Islanders, visitors and their pet companions dolled up in holiday garb for the 42nd annual Christmas in Edgartown festival. 

Southern Tier, a new neighborhood of 60 affordable apartments just east of the Martha’s Vineyard Ice Arena in Oak Bluffs, plans to be built in one phase instead of two after the Martha’s Vineyard Commission approved the change this week.

Yossi Monahan grew up on the Island and attended the Chilmark School and the high school before moving off the Island in his sophomore year.

Robert (Bob) Hayden started a Vineyard branch of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History and sparked the creation of an African American resource collection at the Oak Bluffs library.

In a state committee hearing Tuesday, state Sen. Susan Moran told fellow legislators she requested that state auditor Diana DiZoglio conduct an audit of the authority in order to help “identify the current weaknesses of the authority as well as provide transparency and effective oversight.”

The Edgartown conservation commission grilled The Trustees of Reservations Wednesday as the statewide land nonprofit continued its bid to renew its oversand vehicle program on Chappaquiddick.

The biggest meteor shower of the year will take place next Wednesday night. The Geminid meteor shower will be a wonderful way to close out the year with the best display. The moon will not interfere. As long as skies remain clear late into the evening, observers can expect to spot meteors, shooting stars crossing the sky fairly frequently. While most are familiar with the August Perseid Shower for its size and familiarity, the Geminid shower is better. The challenge with this shower is the temperature outside.

Maura Valley, who became the Island’s public health spokesperson during the Covid-19 pandemic, is retiring at the end of the month from her job as health agent for the town of Tisbury.

Mytoi — the Japanese-style garden on Chappaquiddick — will offer a peaceful, meditative space on Saturday, Dec. 9.

Just one month into its season, the winter shelter has hit capacity three times already, the first time in its history space has been such a concern.