August is the best time for stargazing and looking for meteors. The Perseid meteor shower peaks in the early hours of Tuesday morning but meteors can be seen at any time during the nights ahead.

On Tuesday afternoon as thunderstorms threatened, they came to the West Tisbury Grange Hall early and straggled in late: fishermen fresh off their boats, cooks from Chilmark and New York, politicians and lawyers in coats and ties, teenagers on skateboards. They came to honor Clarissa Allen and Mitchell Posin, recipients of the 25th annual Award for Creative Living from the Ruth J. Bogan and Ruth Redding fund. The Permanent Endowment Fund for Martha’s Vineyard gives the award every year to acknowledge an Island resident who embodies the spirit of Vineyard living.

Act Spontaneously

IMP All Things Theatre Camp proudly presents Spontaneity at 7:30 p.m. tonight, Friday, August 8, at the Edgartown School Café. Come see the future stars of Vineyard and beyond as actors 11 years and older create short-form games and skits based on audience suggestions. This improv show is for all ages and is enjoyable even if you have never heard of IMP Camp before. Tickets available at the door ($8 adults, $6 kids, $25 family). For more information, call 508-939-9368.

It was early morning at Edgartown’s Espresso Love last month and some regulars sat joking about the turkey and piping plover stories that had just unfolded in the Island papers.

Chilmark police shot a wild turkey six times only to be assaulted by a man claiming to be its owner. On the other side of the Island, authorities had been called in to investigate the death of an endangered piping plover. Both were font-page stories,

Friday, August 1: Clear and sunny day. Clouds hug close to the southern sky over the Atlantic Ocean. Clear skies overhead at Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary in the afternoon. Clouds obscure the sunset. Light breeze. The Milky Way shines overhead. Jupiter is above the southeastern sky.

The 14th annual Edgartown Yacht Club 12-metre regatta is this weekend. This year 10 boats are expected for two days of racing, beginning tomorrow.

These are among the fastest big sailboats of the sea. Each has had its days of glory in trying to win the America’s Cup. The boats are between 60 and 70 feet in length, require a sizable crew to sail and often have huge colorful spinnakers. Many of them are coming from Newport. Starting today, they’ll be tied up at the Edgartown Yacht Club.

The Farm Neck Golf Club in Oak Bluffs will bring back the dynamic Jensen brothers, Murphy and Luke, for the third annual Martha’s Vineyard Tennis Open benefit on August 22 and 23.

The brothers, formerly French Open doubles champions, will play with the lucky bidders in a pro-am competition on Saturday and also run the popular tennis clinics. The entire weekend proceeds are going to benefit the Martha’s Vineyard Cancer Support Group, a nonprofit organization that offers financial aide and support to Islanders in need with cancer.

Ladybug Retreats Hosts

August Event for Women

Ladybug Retreats will host its first event on Thursday, August 28 at the Mansion House in Vineyard Haven. The seminar is from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and costs $40.

Ladybug Retreat is a personal development and growth company dedicated to enhancing and empowering people, especially women, by delivering programs that focus on self-care and awareness. The founder of Ladybug’s various enterprises, Cynthia Mullins, is a weekend resident of the Vineyard.

BETTYE FOSTER BAKER

508-696-9983

(bdrbaker@comcast.net)

For many years, the Vineyard has been the summer place for many extraordinary thinkers, writers, artists, jurists, and entertainers — it still is — and Oak Bluffs has been that quintessential place where the gifted, particularly artists have come to rejuvenate, create, and give us a sense of the possibilities of looking at our world through a different set of lenses.

RICK HERRICK

508-693-8065

herricklr@verizon.net

Illumination Night will be held at the Camp Ground on Wednesday, August 20.

The first such event was sponsored by the Oak Bluffs Land and Wharf Company in 1869 as a real estate promotion. To add luster to the event, the governor was invited to speak.