Prices at the West Tisbury Farmers’ Market have long caused shoppers to go into sticker shock when reaching for a bouquet of sunflowers or a bushel of local fingerling potatoes. Bargains have always been few and far between, yet customers continued to arrive before the gates open at nine to snatch up the best of the Vineyard’s hand-picked local produce.

It jumps out at you. In paragraph thirteen of an article written by Mara Liasson in July 1976, then a Vineyard Gazette intern: “Right now in the up-Island swamps the bushes are covered with heavy clusters of cream-colored flowers and purple berries.”

Of course, by the time an elderberry bush bears berries, its flowers tend to be long gone.

An Island institution responsible for giving a bang to the season is having a hard time.

The Oak Bluffs Firemen’s Civic Association, which collects contributions each year to cover the cost for the August fireworks over Ocean Park, is this summer struggling to raise enough money.

“It is getting harder and harder,” said Ken Davey, president of the association.

This year’s fireworks are scheduled to take place on Saturday, August 23.

In just a few months, Island golf phenomenon Tony Grillo will be lighting up the Ivy League when he enters his freshman year at Harvard University and plays on the school’s storied golf team. But this summer he is busy proving once again he is one of the top amateur players in the state — if not the nation.

Announcing Julia

Anne and Glen Caldwell of Vineyard Haven announce the birth of a daughter, Julia Marie Caldwell, on July 14 at the Martha’s Vineyard Community Hospital. Julia weighed 6 pounds, 13.6 ounces at birth. She is also welcomed by big sister Samantha.

Martha’s Vineyard Community Services has been awarded a 3-year accreditation, the highest level possible, by CARF International, an independent not-for profit organization that accredits human service providers.

The process began in 2006 and was completed in May of 2008. In a letter received from CARF on June 30, Community Services was recognized for its “dedication and commitment to improving the quality of the lives of the persons served . . . . Services, personnel, and documentation clearly indicate an established pattern of practice excellence.”

Mary and Jackson Kenworth said this week that they are working on a scaled-down plan to rebuild the former Deon’s restaurant in North Tisbury.

Mrs. Kenworth said she hoped to have a new design of 2,000 square feet to show the West Tisbury zoning board of appeals tomorrow night.

The board continues a public hearing on the restaurant plan at 6 p.m. at the town hall.

North Tisbury Restaurant Revival

Jackson and Mary Kenworth want to take over the burned-out West Tisbury restaurant known most recently as Deon’s but also historically known as the Ice House and the Red Cat. The little restaurant sits along State Road in the North Tisbury corridor that is dotted with a pleasant country mix of small businesses and homes.

Bringing Engine No. 2 Home

To run, maintain and protect a town, taxpayers buy all sorts of vehicles: dump trucks, police cruisers and backhoes, among others.

Yet whatever loyal and lengthy service any of them render, they won’t begin to attract the affection inspired by a fire engine.

As most everyone knows by now, the Visiting Nurse Service, the former nursing agency of Martha’s Vineyard Community Services, announced in March that it would be closing its doors effective June 30. The Vineyard Nursing Association, upon learning of the unexpected closing, began working with Sharon Claus-Zanger, the VNS clinical director, and others to create a plan to move care for 70 patients to Vineyard Nursing Association home care by the end of June.