Tisbury’s 343rd birthday party was a hit for all those invited, and that included the whole Island.

Tisbury is throwing itself a birthday party and everyone is invited. The annual street fair, featuring face painting, a dunking booth, vendor displays and plenty of food, will take place tonight from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.

Established in 1971 to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the town of Tisbury, the fair is now in its 42nd year and regularly draws a crowd of thousands.

Tisbury is getting old, but still looks as good as ever.

On Sunday, July 8 the town will celebrate its 341st birthday with a street fair, an annual tradition established in 1971.

Revelers will throng to Main street in Vineyard Haven starting at 6 p.m. for food, games, music, dunking booths, pony rides and a climbing wall.

Simply put, there will be the Vineyard, in all its summer glory, in one place, at one time.

When Vineyard Haven throws itself a birthday party, everybody’s invited.

And when the birthday party comes in the form of the annual Tisbury Street Fair, nothing stands in the way of a good time — not even inclement weather.

After a weekend long July Fourth celebration, the party continued in Vineyard Haven last Thursday night to celebrate Tisbury’s 339th birthday at the annual Tisbury street fair. It was all food, games, music and dance as families packed Main street to enjoy a night out of fun.

Gary Sylvia was standing next to Tisbury engine number 13 at the head of Main street, helping to sell T-shirts to raise money for the fire department as well as troops overseas through the Red Shirt Friday fund.

They mingled on car-free Main street. They munched on fried dough and cotton candy. They rummaged through clothing racks looking for bargains. They did all the lively things the sardine-like crowd traditionally does at the annual Tisbury Street Fair, even if they did it a day late. A forecast of rain led selectmen to postpone the event to one day after the town’s birthday, July 8.

A full year after the Fourth of July fire closed down Main street, Vineyard Haven, the sun, the crowds and the grand reopening of Bunch of Grapes Bookstore this weekend seemed to return a familiar summer life of leisure to the Island.

It was a claustrophobe's nightmare and a hungry man's
dream at the 37th annual Tisbury Street Fair on Sunday night.

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Street Fair Draws Thousands to Tisbury

By BEN LURIE

Put off a day due to the torrential rain, the town of Vineyard Haven staged its birthday celebration with the usual overabundance of food, drink and merry making that make the Tisbury Street Fair a summer tradition of the first magnitude. And the delay worked out just as well: Saturday evening the skies were blue and the sun warm, a welcome setting for the fair, now in its 34th year.