An account of the first Martha's Vineyard Agricultural Society
Fair, which at the time was called simply the fair and cattle show, from
the Oct. 14, 1859 edition of the Vineyard Gazette recounts that the show
was "well attended by people from all parts of the County."

First, start somewhere familiar. Chopping parsley in the kitchen.
Listening to headphones on 44th street. Observing three-year-olds throw
insults like Big Sewerface at a birthday party.

Then, follow a trail of crumbs into the woods. Better yet, find a
rabbit hole and jump down it. Or pull the candle stick on the mantle in
the haunted house and slip through the bookcase when it swivels around.
Enter the less familiar, somewhat weird, darkly funny, sometimes
frightening.

Howard Dean Tells Democrats a New Day Is Coming in 2008

By MIKE SECCOMBE

It's scary what political parties know about you. Even Howard
Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee concedes that,
although he relishes it too.

"We can tell you what magazines you read, what DVDs you watch,
which restaurants you go to and what credit cards you use, et cetera, et
cetera," he told a crowd gathered for a fundraiser at the East
Chop home of Connie Borde last Thursday.

Island Plan Series Heads to Final Round With Wednesday Forum on
Development

By MIKE SECCOMBE

After 18 months of research and meetings, benign intentions and
utopian visions for future of the Vineyard, tomorrow will mark the
point, predicted Jim Athearn, where the rubber really hits the road.

Wednesday evening is the final in the series of the Island Plan
public forums - the big one, where motherhood intentions meet
vested interests: development and growth. The forum begins at 7:30 p.m.
in the new agricultural hall in West Tisbury.

Andrew Woodruff, the owner of Whippoorwill Farm who is best known
for bringing community supported agriculture to the Vineyard, is
scrambling to put together a group to buy Thimble Farm to block a sale
of the farm to a private buyer.

The deadline is August 28 and the outcome is at best uncertain.

Andrea and Jamie Rogers, artists and craftsmen, mother and daughter, are sharing the full menu of life, its joy of strong family and sorrow at the sudden loss two years ago of a husband and dad. They also share artistic achievement. Andrea and her husband Jim moved to the Vineyard in 1986 with their three children. Joseph, who is 22, works for Brookstone Construction and Alisha, who is 24, is in New York city with Lancome beauty products.

The gates opened half an hour early this year for the 146th annual
Martha's Vineyard Agricultural Society Livestock Show and Fair
because of the number of people milling in the parking lot. And at 10:45
a.m. yesterday the line in front of the West Tisbury firemen's
hamburger booth was the shortest it will be all weekend. At peak hours,
the wait for a grilled-to-perfection burger can take up to 15 minutes,
but on this morning, only two people were waiting, their elbows up on
the counter.

Former Ambassador Says Iraq Pullout Is Inevitable

By MIKE SECCOMBE

You don't fix a watch with a hammer. And the force of blunt
instruments is seldom any more effective in international relations.

That was the essence of Ambassador Dennis Ross's address at
the Martha's Vineyard Summer Institute Wednesday night, as he
drove home his message that America's diminished standing in the
world would not be restored until it abandons its heavy-handed and
faith-based approach to international problems and relearns the subtle
art of statecraft.

As a widening home mortgage crisis ripples through national financial markets, positive trends in the second quarter indicate that the Vineyard real estate market has stabilized and is even showing growth.Patience and supply and demand, the ultimate self-correcting economic process, was at work in the Vineyard market during the three-month period which ended June 30.

Addressing his Third Army troops before the Battle of France in
World War II, General George S. Patton spoke these now-famous blunt
words: "Boys, we all want to go home. We want to get this over
with. But the quickest way to get it over with is to go get those
bastards. The quicker they're whipped, the quicker we go
home."