Tip O’Neill said that all politics is local.

Mr. O’Neill learned his truth growing up in the ethnic enclaves of East Cambridge ward politics, a lesson that took him to the chairmanship of the U.S. House of Representatives.

He would have been at home in Aquinnah this week as the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) stages its biennial election on Sunday. There is a heated contest for tribal council chairman.

Winter high-speed ferry service between New Bedford and the Vineyard is expected to be sharply reduced, and may be abandoned altogether unless passenger numbers increase.

In the face of rapidly falling ridership, the ferry’s operators intend to cancel all weekend runs and reduce weekday trips by a third. The changes are expected to be formally approved by Steamship Authority governors at their monthly meeting in New Bedford on Tuesday.

The Vineyard real estate market showed resilience in the third quarter, with prices rising even as sales dropped and inventory rose.

Island observers further said the Vineyard market continues to show more strength than the mainland.

If you were a seller on the Island, you waited longer to sell your home but got a payoff if you did sell. Vineyard home sale prices climbed nearly 18 per cent in the three months ending Sept. 30, according to figures provided by LINK, an Island real estate data reporting company.

Sandy Grant, who won $10 million with a scratch card on Saturday, is sitting in the front room of her modular home in Edgartown, swatting flies with a rolled-up instruction manual. Her count is two kills from 10 attempts since the conversation with a reporter began. “I’ve been looking to get a fly swatter,” she says thoughtfully, still musing on the viability of the idea. It is the type of item Ms. Grant feels she can now afford, but it is important for her to need the things she buys.

Not so long ago, it was commonplace for Vineyard towns to have multiple blacksmith shops: thriving places of commerce that sold items such as bolts, hinges, horseshoes, cooking utensils and iron gates.

But as the all-consuming age of the machine took hold, the old village smithy went the way of the horse and buggy. The last blacksmith on the Island was Orin Norton, who operated a shop in Edgartown for sixty years until his death in 1961.

Farmers, town and county officials and Island residents will gather tomorrow morning for a workshop to discuss the possibility of forming an agricultural commission on the Island.

Established through a town meeting vote, an agricultural commission is a political body that provides a link to state and federal agricultural agencies and grant monies. Currently, there are over 95 agricultural commissions in Massachusetts.

County commissioners interviewed three finalists for the county manager position on Saturday morning.

Each candidate spent one hour fielding two rounds of questions on management style, experience with budgets and grants and the changing nature of Dukes County.

Prostate Support Group

The Martha’s Vineyard Prostate Cancer Support Group’s next meeting is at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 21 at Martha’s Vineyard Community Services (across from the high school) in the Middle Building in the downstairs board room.

Any and all are welcome. Participants may bring family, friends and wives. A reference library is maintained for participants’ use.

More information is available by calling Emily Wetherall at 508-693-7900, extension 236.

The Dukes County charter study commission narrowed a list of seven possible recommendations for the future of county government to four in a straw vote at their regular meeting Thursday.

In a nearly unanimous vote, commissioners eliminated the options of recommending no change to county government, abolishing county government with no replacement and abolishing county government and replacing it with an alternative form of government. The vote was nonbinding, and in the future commissioners may choose to reconsider the options.

Holly Day Fair at Church

Benefits Worldwide Relief

The Grace Episcopal Church at Woodlawn avenue and William street in Vineyard Haven will hold its annual Holly Day Fair on Saturday, Dec. 1 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with the luncheon served between 11 a.m and 1 p.m.