A 36.5-foot sailboat that washed ashore on Norton Point July 5 is finally off the beach after a week of removal efforts, and Edgartown police reported that several people who stripped the boat of its contents have returned the items.

Edgartown police Det. Sgt. Christopher Dolby told the Gazette this week that Running Free, the sailboat belonging to Bill Heldenbrand, 67, of St. Joseph, Mo., was pulled off the beach last Friday. During an attempted transatlantic voyage, Mr. Heldenbrand encountered a severe storm and was forced to abandon his boat between Florida and Bermuda.

President Obama and his family will return to the Vineyard for a vacation this summer, marking the fourth Summer White House trip to the Island during his presidency.

The White House confirmed last week that the Obamas will travel to the Vineyard on August 10 and remain on Island until August 18. As in the past, no public events are scheduled during their stay.

The 27th Oak Bluffs Monster Shark Tournament is set for this weekend, and will likely be the last tournament of its size to be held in town following years of debate and controversy.

Sponsored by the Boston Big Game Fishing Club, the tournament begins Friday and continues Saturday. The tournament’s home base is the Oak Bluffs marina.

While Cape Cod and much of the eastern United States sweltered under the blanket of a heat wave, Islanders and visitors, though still uncomfortably hot, suffered more from the high humidity this week. Temperatures peaked at 90 degrees, not unusually high for July according to National Weather Service meteorologist Kimberly Buttrick, but the high humidity is unusual.

Closing a chapter in a seven-year discussion and negotiation process, Tisbury selectmen signed a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday with Thomas and Ginny Payette regarding a stand of trees at the Tashmoo Overlook.

Under the terms of the MOU, which was signed at a well-attended selectmen’s meeting, the Payettes agreed to allow town crews onto their property to restore the Tashmoo viewshed.

An independent review of the Oak Bluffs fire department turned up a series of needed improvements, including better record keeping, clearer policies and procedures and improved communication between town and fire authorities.

In 1953 a few children from Fall River, some in wheelchairs and some wearing braces, clambered off the ferry and found freedom for the first time on the Vineyard. Sixty years later, Camp Jabberwocky is still changing lives.

Officially known as the Martha’s Vineyard Cerebral Palsy Camp, this extraordinary program gives adults and children with severe disabilities a few weeks each year to experience all the joys of summer — swimming, dancing, fishing, parasailing, painting, horseback riding, to name a few.

The Vineyard is usually spared the most oppressive days of summer but this week has been an exception with sweltering heat and humidity up Island and down, the kind seen more typically on the mainland. Who turned off the breeze? Not a breath of air could be had, or so it seemed at times.

Ordinarily a rare sight on the Island, wood lilies are blooming in profusion this year in many places, including in the fields at Waskosim’s Rock Reservation, a Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank property.

The showy red-orange wood lily occurs in dry woods throughout southern New England; its entire range runs from southern Ontario to North Carolina and Kentucky. The bulbs were once gathered by native Americans for food.

The African American Heritage Trail of Martha’s Vineyard began as part of a promise to a little boy, and in 1998 the Shearer Cottage was dedicated as the first site on the Trail. The ambition was to reach a total of eight sites. That there were many stories was obvious, but the depth and range of the experiences that make up the tapestry of the African American experience on Martha’s Vineyard was amazing. From fugitive preachers to nationally known politicians, all the struggles and triumphs of people of color were part of the story of this Island.