Hottest Fair in History Wins Cheers from Public
Sweltering Weather Drops Attendance to 25,000 Visitors
By ALEXIS TONTI
Two days after the close of the Martha's Vineyard Agricultural
Society Livestock Show and Fair, the blue reentry stamp still
won't quite wash off. The ink's durability through sweat and
swim and shower is pretty amazing - and a bit frustrating -
but ultimately a good thing. Most everyone left and returned, and that
stamp was their ticket back in.
Just as the Gay Head Lighthouse has guided mariners to safety for more than 200 years, the steeple at the Community Baptist Church has been a beacon and guided those seeking solace for more than three centuries.
The steeple, which can be viewed from one end of town to the other, contains the bell tower that is now in need of major repairs and renovations, and due to a small number of present members of the congregation they find it is time to go out to the general public to ask for assistance.
He talks like a truck driver and behaves like a used car salesman.
Neither is an act. So how did a guy who owns a moving company and sells
cars on the side get to be the auctioneer of choice for just about every
Island charity?
Two teenagers from Israel. One is Jewish, Yael Tikotsky. The other, Ranin Yanaki, is Arab. They go to separate schools. In fact, most schools in Israel are segregated.
Serious Fire Draws Attention to Danger of Junk Car Dump
By MANDY LOCKE
Edgartown's most glaring eyesore became its largest liability
Tuesday morning when volunteer firemen responded to a potentially
dangerous fire in the town's illegal graveyard for junk cars.
HYANNIS - In a bold show of Island solidarity, Vineyard
Steamship Authority governor Kathryn A. Roessel led a move yesterday to
ice any expanded ferry service out of New Bedford next year, including
freight service.
The spirit and the first candle of the Grand Illumination was
carried by a 32-year-old sufferer of Huntington's Disease. With
her father, Walter, and her niece, Kyla McCartney, nearby, Tammy Frye
lit the first candle Wednesday night on the stage of the Tabernacle;
within seconds lanterns throughout the Camp Ground were aglow.
It was the 133rd annual Grand Illumination, and thousands of
well-wishers cheered the power and reach of a glowing candle.
A month ago, Island farmers were complaining that it was dry. Now,
halfway through August, it is even drier - so much so that
Vineyarders are looking for new superlatives to describe the arid
conditions.
The Cape and Islands led the state in rainfall earlier in the year.
But on Wednesday, the state announced that because of lack of rainfall
the region had moved from a drought advisory to a drought watch.
The activity filling the roadways in West Tisbury yesterday morning could only mean one thing: The 141st annual Martha's Vineyard Agricultural Society Livestock Show and Fair had opened its gates at 10 a.m. for the first of four eventful days.
Groups of kids stood at nearby bus stops, people walked along the road toward the event, cars full of parents and children began to back up for the field parking - and the fair had only just begun.
A father and son, after parking, sprinted to the ticket booth with smiles on their faces, laughing all the way there.
President Clinton Returns for Short Visit
Former President William Clinton will arrive on Martha's
Vineyard today for a long weekend with his wife, U.S. Sen. Hillary
Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), and daughter Chelsea.
The family will stay at the Chilmark home of Kenneth H. Iscol, a
cellular-telephone industry executive. Mr. Clinton will celebrate his
56th birthday here on Monday.
The Clintons first visited the Island in 1993 and except for 1996
have returned to its shores every year since.
