Vincent’s Paper Store in Vineyard Haven, for generations a landmark at the corner of Main and Center streets, is about to be moved to the Call Block, so called, the location of the summer shop know
It’s that time of year when seasonal businesses are taking down the shutters and the summer workforce is beginning to arrive.
In recent years Eastern Europeans and Jamaicans have been filling a growing share of summer jobs. Foreign workers wait tables, greet guests, pour beers, make hotel beds, bake peanut brittle and fudge, serve lobster rolls and fry quesadillas. About 5,000 people come to the Island to work each year, according to a recent Martha’s Vineyard Commission report on housing needs.
The Island has the second lowest seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate in the state, according to recent data released by the state’s executive office of labor and workforce development. The office reports that the Tisbury labor market area, which includes all six Island towns, had a seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate of 3.8 per cent in July, while the state average was 6.6 per cent. Statewide, Nantucket had the lowest unemployment rate for July, calculated to be 2.9 per cent.
A few days after hanging the Port Hunter sign on Main street in Edgartown, new restaurateurs Patrick and Ted Courtney received a visit from an old-timer. The man showed the brothers numerous old photos of the space including one that featured the front of the brick building and a sign mounted on steel with white lettering which spelled out First National. The sign was almost identical to their new sign, down to the font size and style.
“It kind of came back around... It was nice,” Ted said. “We felt like we were doing the right thing.”
The Upper Main street business district in Edgartown will see some new enterprise this year following approval by the town planning board of two business projects on Tuesday night.
The board approved a change of use permit that will allow the Edgartown Meat and Fish Market to open in Post Office Square, and also voted to allow a new construction project by the owners of Wave Lengths salon.
Here’s a proposed expedition every bit as adventurous (but not nearly as brutal) as Capt. Shackleton’s trek across South Georgia Island: Why not sit down with loved ones and plan to attend every last event being staged over the coming weekend — Dec. 11 to Dec. 13 — of the Christmas In Edgartown extravaganza?
More Island workers than ever are without jobs and seeking unemployment benefits this winter.
