Salsa Patrick’s Day

If celebrating with the leprechauns isn’t your cup of Guinness try a different slice of Saint Patrick’s day with a Salsa party at Junior’s Harbor Cafe (at the Shell Gas Station building on Beach Road in Vineyard Haven, across the Net Result).

The dance party is for all levels, expert to clubfoot, to those who just like to watch. There will be music, Brazilian food, and plenty of swaying hips. The buffet dinner begins at 7 p.m. and the calorie burning dance fever starts at 8 p.m.

St. Patrick’s Parade

Forget about Boston and its river of green, Edgartown is the place to be for St. Patrick’s day.

The first ever St. Patrick’s parade begins at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday. The route is from Dock street to the Kelley House.

Little money, a backstage dressing room the size of an office desk — it’s all part of the charm of working in community theatre. But when the audiences, about half of whom you know personally, laugh or gasp or sit in mesmerized silence it’s all worth it.

For current American Idol contestant Erika Van Pelt, last week moving into the top twelve, handling the pressure of performing in front of an audience of millions should be a walk in the park.

For current American Idol contestant Erika Van Pelt, last week moving into the top twelve, handling the pressure of performing in front of an audience of millions should be a walk in the park.

After all, her very first gig with the Sultans of Swing, the Martha’s Vineyard based event band most commonly seen at weddings and summer events, was a Nantucket wedding in which she sang two hours of overtime as a storm rolled in over the horizon.

Talk about a high-pressure situation.

After a profitable 2011, the Steamship Authority has started the year on a high note.

Vineyard and Nantucket summer reservations are up six per cent from a year ago as of the end of February, Steamship Authority general manager Wayne Lamson announced at Tuesday’s meeting of the board of governors in Woods Hole. “I think its a combination of some of the good weather we’ve had recently as well as the economy. I think people are looking forward to a good year.”

The former Edgartown dredge committee chairman who took heat for using the town dredge to do work on a private project without proper permits has apologized and offered to pay the town’s legal fees.

Town counsel Ron Rappaport said at Monday’s selectmen meeting that Norman Rankow, the former dredge committee chairman, has offered to pay for “any legal and subsequent expenses” the town might have in dealing with the Jan. 13 unauthorized dredge at 51 Witchwood Lane, a property where Mr. Rankow was the general contractor.

Pathways Projects Institute will present an evening of videography, Digital Visions/Creating Reality, on Thursday, March 14 from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Pathways Gathering Space in the Chilmark Tavern. The event, the second in the Digital Vision/Creating Reality series, will focus on video storytelling that incorporates digital effects.

A civil trial started today stemming from a 2005 plane crash at Katama Airfield, with jurors hearing from one of the crash survivors and taking a trip to the airfield to look at the plane’s wreckage.

The plane’s pilot, Alec Naiman, and his passengers, Jeffrey and Jessica Willoughby, are suing Cessna Aircraft Company in Dukes County Superior Court, claiming that the accident was the result of faulty rails on the pilot’s seat. Cessna is arguing that the crash was due to pilot error.

By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL

Groundwork at the site of old Marine Hospital, the future home of the Martha’s Vineyard Museum, remains suspended after a worker discovered a bone at the site last week, shutting down operations.

The bone was at first thought to be a human remain, but has since been determined not to be human.

Shark fins and fans are returning to Vineyard waters this summer. But before they get here a noted scientist will be making her way to the Island to educate us on what we can do to save these misunderstood, threatened animals.

Marine conservation biologist Samantha Whitcraft will speak at public schools and present two free public sessions on March 13 and 14 that explain the importance of sharks to marine life, dispel shark myths and suggest ways that children and adults can protect sharks.