For Robert C. Cleasby, program director at the Martha's Vineyard Camp Meeting Association, there's no better time for singing and celebrating than tomorrow evening, minutes before the start of Illumination Night.
Illumination Night coincides with the culmination of many wonderful aspects of summer on the Vineyard. "This is the major Camp Ground festival as far as summer goes," Mr. Cleasby said. "It's the really fun one."
The water's too cold. The path's too long. There are too many rocks. And worst of all, you can't get a parking space.
Tisbury Inn Reconstruction Start Prompts Angry Complaints from
Business Owners
By JOSHUA SABATINI
A group of Main street business owners stood by helplessly this week
as their stores experienced earthquake-like conditions after
reconstruction work on the Tisbury Inn began Monday.
The former anchor of the downtown business district was destroyed by
a fire in December.
Hugh Weisman organized the first Chilmark Road Race in 1978 as a fun run for the kids at the Chilmark Community Center. He never imagined that tomorrow, he'd be presiding over the 25th annual event, nor that the road race would grow to landmark stature on the calendar of the Island summer.
"It's been very gratifying," said Mr. Weisman, who now gives up a week of vacation every year to run the race. "I ran into somebody in New York this winter who says he lives for the road race - he's flying up for it.
If it's bad news, gripes and complaints, Oak Bluffs selectmen don't want to hear it. This week they scrapped the annual meeting for the town's nonvoting taxpayers, saying they were in no mood to weather another barrage of criticism from the town's summer people.
Letter Shows Land Bank Position Misrepresented in Golf Deal
Maneuvers
By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer
In a confidential letter sent to the Oak Bluffs selectmen last week,
the executive director of the Martha's Vineyard Land Bank raised a
series of tough questions about the latest deal that was forged behind
closed doors between town officials and golf course developer Corey
Kupersmith, the Gazette has learned.
A live baby great white shark was brought into Menemsha harbor by a
local fishing boat Tuesday morning. And though the fish was only five
feet in length, the fact that it was a great white caused quite a stir.
Two farmers and three developers are among 13 candidates who will
vie for nine elected seats on the Martha's Vineyard Commission in
the state election this November.
Final West Tisbury Buildout Adds 3,000 Citizens to the Population
By MANDY LOCKE
West Tisbury's development spurt in the 1970s felt more like a
surge to the year-round community of 500 living in the up-Island rural
township.
The fast and furious growth, which tripled the housing stock and
nearly quadrupled the permanent population, loomed over West
Tisbury's 17,372 acres through the 1980s. And the townspeople
watched beloved farmland, which made up nearly half of the entire town
in 1950, dwindle from 710 acres in 1970 to just under 500 by 1990.
State public health officials have confirmed that a dead crow found in Tisbury last Tuesday has tested positive for West Nile virus, marking the first appearance of the potentially deadly disease on the Vineyard.
