Hoopapalooza

It’s all hoops, all day, on Sunday, August 15, when the dunking begins in the 22nd annual Alex Cohen Memorial Basketball Marathon for Charity at the Chilmark Community Center.

Fun begins at noon and continues through 6 p.m.

The marathon is played in memory of Alex Cohen, who spent his summers in Chilmark, playing and working at the community center until his untimely death in August 1991.

For four days this weekend, worshipping at the Union Chapel in Oak Bluffs will take a different form. The light that flows into the historic church will not only be illuminating people in the pews, but the ballerinas, hip-hop artists, modern and belly dancers worshipping the art of dance at the annual Built on Stilts festival.

On Saturday, August 14 Polly Hill Arboretum staff make their annual visit to Chappaquiddick to explore native plants along the trails near the Chappy Community Center.

From bog and wetland plants near Brine’s Pond to species common to the fields and woodlands, there are always interesting plants to identify and enjoy. Learn the natural and cultural history of some of these plants and how their presence may indicate past uses of the land.

The Vineyard represents centuries of personal tragedies, triumphs and the humdrum operation of day-to-day Island life.

The Holmes Hole Sailing Association race on Thursday night July 22 was a warm evening with a pleasant 10 knots of west wind. Twelve boats posted for the 6 p.m. start at red nun 6. The course took the fleet to green can 23a at East Chop then to nun 4 at West Chop, and back to nun 6. The first leg was a broad reach on the port tack. After rounding the nun, a beat to West Chop was followed by a beam reach to the finish line.

It should be bonito season. The water is warm, well into the 70s. There are plenty of sand eels swimming near the shoreline and there are plenty of terns overhead feeding. The bonito should be here. But they mostly aren’t.

Friday, August 6: Partly sunny. A muggy afternoon. Temperature in the high 80s. Seven 12-metre sailboats are rafting at the Edgartown Yacht Club, under clear skies.

By MATT KRAMER

The Kiwis are coming! The Kiwis are coming! One if by land, two if by sea three if by both? Recently, sunbathers at Edgartown’s Lighthouse Beach were shocked and awed when a boat drove onto the beach supported by three wheels.

Long gone are the days of Two-Buck Chuck that Stephanie Browne and her close group of girlfriends sipped throughout college. Cheap chardonnay and chablis have been replaced with a palette of curiosity, one that led them to form a wine club that eventually turned into Divas Uncorked. This weekend, the group of friends and their guests will host the fourth annual Wine and Food Festival, where Islanders and visitors will dine on the best food the Island has to offer accompanied by the best New England wine.

By LYNNE IRONS

Winter squash is a misnomer. For years I have saved them for post-summer meals. Thanks to the hideous squash bug, the vines are mostly dead and the squashes are no longer attached to anything. I see no point in leaving them in the field, probably to rot. On Saturday, Marie and I harvested a good number of hubbards, lakatas and spaghettis. We noticed that the Waltham butternut and the Tennessee sweet potato squash did not seem to be affected adversely by the bug. We left them to mature on the vine.