All the Social News

From the Vineyard Gazette editions of June, 1908:

Those from Edgartown, in all numbering twenty-three, who attended the Neighborhood Convention at Gay Head on Tuesday, report a most delightful day. The start was made, five teams in all, at the early hour of six in the morning, and the arrival home was about eight in the evening, four hours on the road each way.

Four people escaped serious injury when a helicopter crashed into the sea off Lake Tashmoo about 2:30 p.m. Sunday.

Police said engine failure was the cause of the crash.

Several private fishing and pleasure boats were on the scene, about 1,000 yards off Tashmoo, within minutes and threw life jackets to the passengers clinging to the upturned chopper.

The occupants were then able to swim the short distance to the boats. It is believed three boats ferried them to shore. All were checked at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital and quickly released.

A brief but acrimonious rift between the promoters of a concert planned for this summer in Ocean Park featuring the Boston Pops and a group of Island charities who plan to use the event for fund-raising has been patched up — at least for now.

Rick White, a senior producer for Festival Network and lead organizer for the Martha’s Vineyard Festival, told the Gazette yesterday his company is abandoning plans to expand the August 10 concert to a second night.

The post-mortem report on the tiny bird was clinically graphic.

The chick was laterally compressed, with internal trauma to the right side, and hepatic, pulmonary and intestinal rupturing. The left eye contained sand grains adhered to the surface and compressed within, misshaping it. There was trauma to the left side of the brain and the pelvis was squashed out of alignment.

“The bird was otherwise in good condition, and results are consistent with the hypothesis that the chick died from being crushed,” the report said.

When John Biguenet was writing Rising Water, his play about two people trapped by the flooding of New Orleans, the first four or five drafts were “so furiously angry” that they could not be performed.

Mr. Biguenet, whose family had lived in New Orleans for a couple of centuries, was deeply personally affected, and as a result he was packing his play “full of my opinions . . . my anger and my opinions and my sadness.”

One Chilmark resident who made the trek down-Island for the Taste of the Vineyard festivities this weekend may have put it best.

“I haven’t come to Edgartown for years,” said the guest of the Saturday evening patrons’ dinner and gala auction. “You people have really come a long way.”

All Owen Bennion wanted for the first show of the summer was his two front teeth.

Unfortunately, as of about 11:35 a.m. Friday, he pretty much no longer had them.

Owen is the new musical director of the Vineyard Sound, a popular college a cappella group that sings a regular schedule of hourlong shows across the Island from the middle of June until the middle of August. On Friday evening, the 16th season of Vineyard Sound was scheduled to begin with two performances at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Edgartown.

An Indiana woman was cited by Tisbury police on Friday after she reportedly veered over into the oncoming lane of traffic on the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road and collided with a R.M. Packer fuel delivery truck.

Laura Harris, 35, of Indianapolis, Ind., was reportedly driving north towards Vineyard Haven in a Volkswagen Passat when she crossed over the center line and collided with the passenger side of the fuel truck, causing extensive front-end damage to both vehicles. The windshield was blown out of the Volkswagen and the vehicle’s axle was broken.

A small group of boat enthusiasts gathered at Martha’s Vineyard Shipyard for the launching of a wooden skiff last Friday afternoon.

Unlike most significant boat christenings and launchings, this one didn’t call for a lot of ceremony. There were no speeches, no flags or banners flying. A bottle of champagne was present, but no one was interested in consuming it. Only 20 people were in the audience.

Though the little boat will be the talk of the waterfront for years to come, there was nothing flashy about the gathering.

Windemere Benefit

Windemere Nursing and Rehabilitation will host both a silent and live auction on Friday, June 20 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the agricultural hall on Panhandle Road in West Tisbury to benefit the efforts of the recreation department at the nursing home.

Items available for bid include a personal training session with Lisa Amols, a dog massage provided by Companion Massage, a private tennis lesson with pro George Brown at Mattakesett, a sunset cruise around Vineyard Haven Harbor, and a stay at the Hob Knob Inn.