An excited, yet not quite frantic, bustle around West Tisbury's Agricultural Hall suggests that it's that time again. Just in case the hectic scene isn't enough of a sign, a yellow, blue, green and pink merry-go-round sits empty in the grass semicircle in front of the Agricultural Hall, waiting to take kids for a spin.

The 140th Martha's Vineyard Agricultural Society's Livestock and Fair will kick off Thursday morning at 10 a.m.

About the only thing missing at Tuesday's meeting of the Oak Bluffs selectmen with seasonal residents was the tar and feathers. Town leaders took a verbal drubbing from residents fed up with delays, costs and the visual impact of the town sewer project.

Convinced there's no way to make rental mopeds safe on the Vineyard, Oak Bluffs selectmen this week threw their support behind proposed state legislation that would require anyone renting a moped to have a motorcycle license.

Relief is expected tonight from the Island's first significant heat wave of the year. Forecasters are predicting the heat wave, which has sent thousands to the beach and created long lines for ice at Vineyard stores, will likely end tonight with the arrival of a cold front from Canada.

Temperatures in the last two days have hit the 90s in the shade, which is rare for the Vineyard.

Just 10 days from summer's climactic event, the Oak Bluffs fireworks, top town officials are saying that Ocean Park will definitely host the blockbuster event even though they are still not happy with the condition of the park.

Boston Pops Swings to Standing Ovations

By MANDY LOCKE

Just five minutes shy of six o'clock on Saturday evening, the hum of the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra's warm-up barely overpowered the laughter and chatting on the lawn surrounding the Tabernacle. Then the Pops struck the first note of the opening piece without a word of introduction, and the crowd fell silent under conductor Keith Lockhart's spell.

Martha's Vineyard offered Mr.

A heavy and chilly bank of fog rolled in over last night's Possible Dreams auction in Edgartown, but it did nothing to cool down the bidders who went wild for items featuring Carly Simon, David McCullough and Walter Cronkite.

By the time the marathon event wrapped up some three hours later, Martha's Vineyard Community Services had raised $403,600 from 48 dreams, topping last year's $325,000 mark by a margin of nearly 25 per cent.

If there's a paradox in the Possible Dreams Auction, it's
that the folks who run Martha's Vineyard Community Services count on
the money it raises as a definite reality.

They need the funds, and over the past 22 years, this auction
peddling wild and far-fetched dreams has anchored the development
efforts at Community Services and enabled the agency to make daycare
affordable to working Islanders and to offer counseling and substance
abuse treatment to people with no insu

Four weeks after her younger sister was killed in a moped
accident in Oak Bluffs, Christina Dunnet Davis is vowing to join any
campaign that will rid the Vineyard of mopeds.

It began with a suburban-style subdivision plan, polished
like a shiny apple: Maximum density, 54 luxury homes, two beach clubs
with swimming pools.

It ended last week with a record real estate sale and a
subdivision plan of a markedly different color: Six new luxury homes
added to five existing homes and a vast sweep of farmland saved
forever.

But between the beginning and the end of the Herring Creek
Farm story there is another story.