The Island was buffeted by winds from the south in 2025, fueled not by high and low pressure airflows matching wits along the jet stream, but launched from Washington by a new President set on making his mark near and far. Often an oasis, cut off from national politics by its ocean moat, the Vineyard was now tethered to its mainland brethren as if a bridge had been built overnight.

Local news began to mirror events taking place all over the country, with ICE raids terrifying immigrant populations, DOGE cuts potentially crippling food subsistence programs, and the energy from offshore wind farms now powering judicial jiu jitsu as the national government declared the nascent industry a threat to national security.

Closer to home, other creatures were stirring, chief among them an arachnid that had long been part of the Island ecosystem but had now morphed into something far more frightening. Ticks and the diseases they carry were now on the menu, so to speak, as the alpha-gal allergy caused by a lone star tick bite continued to create instant vegetarians, no longer able to eat, and in some severe cases wear, any mammalian products.

The Steamship Authority also remained a reliable foil, carrying passengers and cars to and from the mainland, along with the weight of expectations repeatedly dashed as a new reservation system once again did not materialize, but a damning report did surface at the end of the year.

And yet, during a year that had many fearing for the future while they questioned where the country and the Island were heading, a trip to the past served as a reminder that change is truly the only constant, confusing though it may be.

For example, who could have foreseen, back in June of 1975, that a man-eating shark would become the Island’s most recognizable and lovable beast.

The Jaws reunion brought back both the Hollywood glamor of the movie that would change the Island forever, and a sense of pride in the local community that made the filming possible.

In considering the events of 2025, the 50th anniversary of Jaws revealed yet again how the Vineyard so often punches above its weight on the national and international level.

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The year began with a birth, right on time when Maisie Rose was born on Jan. 1 at 6:26 p.m., to parents Arianna Peters and Dennis Rose. Some years it can take days or even a week for the first Island baby to arrive, but not 2025. Maisie was ready to roll right away, her father noted.

“I ordered Edgartown Pizza when they broke her water and the baby came before the pizza got here,” Mr. Rose recalled.

“When she came out she was just stretching her legs,” Ms. Peters added.

It was perhaps a sign it would be a year that didn’t dawdle, preferring to rush headlong into the fray.

When the temperatures dropped during the winter, Vineyarders once again stepped up their efforts to help the less fortunate. Previously housed on the campus of Community Services, Harbor Homes, the Island’s homeless prevention nonprofit, had to open alternate locations for its winter shelter. The organization returned to its roots, sheltering the unhoused at various churches last winter and utilizing its women’s shelter as its main hub this season.

The churches also served daily free meals at their seasonal community suppers, ensuring that anyone who was hungry or lonely did not have to go without sustenance or company.

Helping the less fortunate has long been the Island way, and served as a visible counterweight to the events of May 27, when officials from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) descended, arresting about 40 total people on the Vineyard and Nantucket.

The ICE officers wore masks and indiscriminately stopped work vans as they searched for alleged undocumented immigrants. Detainees were taken off the Island from Menemsha by a Coast Guard boat. Photographs of the men shackled and huddled together, heading off to undisclosed detention centers, shocked the Island, as it had the rest of the country in similar, ongoing operations.

Rumors of subsequent raids lingered throughout the year, often leaving work sites and school classrooms empty as the Island’s sizable and longtime Brazilian population hid in fear. Currently, about 30 per cent of public school students speak Portuguese at home.

“On Tuesday, when this started, people went home,” Valmir Rodrigues, a Brazilian immigrant who now works as a tax preparer in Vineyard Haven, said in the aftermath. “On Wednesday, nobody went into the streets.”

State legislative officials were vocal in their condemnation of the raids.

“It’s shameful to see immigrant Islanders targeted and terrorized in a dragnet,” said state senator Julian Cyr. “If you enjoy Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket or Cape Cod, especially in the summer, please remember that it is immigrants who make your vacation possible.”

Although no other raids were forthcoming on the Island, the mood was grim to the point of reshaping how some felt about celebrating the Fourth of July.

“I’m not feeling very patriotic,” said Menemsha artist Colin Ruel. “I don’t think we have much to celebrate this year for the Fourth of July.”

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Turning again to the flip side of sowing fear and retribution, the Island said goodbye to a man who had lived a life of nurturing and mentoring several generations of Island youths from his perch at the wheel of the Shenandoah.

Capt. Robert Douglas died on April 23 at the age of 93. He launched the Shenandoah in 1964 and made it a traveling schoolyard for Island children who climbed aboard for daily or weekly excursions, learning to navigate their own lives like he had done: with grit, passion and heart.

“His voice was a low rumble, and some friends described Bob Douglas as shy,” wrote Tom Dunlop in his obituary for Captain Bob. “With that in mind, his accomplishments and legacies at sea and ashore appear all the more adventurous, public and lasting.”

The legacy of Captain Douglas reverberates all over the Island, but no place more than in Vineyard Haven harbor, which was also home to another seismic shift this past year. The founders of Gannon and Benjamin Marine Railway, Nat Benjamin and Ross Gannon, announced they would be retiring and handing over the reins of the legendary wooden boat building business to partner Brad Abbott and three employees: Lyle Zell, Christian Cabral and Antonio Salguero.

“The next generation is family and friends of the boatyard, friends of Nat and Ross who have the same passion for the craft,” Mr. Abbott said, following the announcement, ensuring that the working waterfront tradition would continue into the foreseeable future.

Elsewhere around the Island, change arrived with a bit more mystery surrounding what the future holds. Phillips Hardware, an anchor institution on Circuit avenue, closed its doors in September after nearly 100 years in business.

Co-owner Susan Phillips reflected on the long tenure of the Phillips family tending the hardware needs of its customers.

“It’s not us being here for generations,” Ms. Phillips said. “It’s that our customers have been coming here for generations.”

The building was purchased in 2022 by the Pacheco family, owners of Reliable Market next door, which at end of year submitted initial plans to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission to demolish the building and create a mix of commercial and residential space in a new structure.

Other hits to Circuit avenue included the closing of Circuit Style Salon, and the sale of the building that has long housed Benito’s Barbershop. This, combined with the long shuttered Linda Jean’s Restaurant, became a serious concern for some business owners.

“There are empty stores and closed businesses littering this town,” said Ben DeForest, owner of Red Cat Kitchen. “I can look off my porch [in the off-season], and there’s literally not one car parked on Circuit avenue. It is a ghost town.”

A September purchase of the building that housed Linda Jean’s by hotel developer Charles Hajjar and Island restaurateur Doug Abdelnour has generated some hope of a partial revival of the town.

In Vineyard Haven, Mocha Mott’s announced it would close down its Vineyard Haven location when a buyer was found for the building, although it will continue to run its Oak Bluffs location during the summer months. And down the street, Island Music, the Island’s sole music store, went up for sale after 34 years in business. The community created a campaign to save the store in some form, but thus far nothing has materialized.

The long lines for cheese and croissants at Grey Barn Farm melted away at the end of the summer, never to return. Owners Molly and Eric Glasgow decided to press pause on the business that had Islanders up early and in line all year long, hungry for pastry perfection.

Chef Deon left his spot at the VFW, but the Jamaican dishes will still be in rotation with Island chef Shamel Abraham taking over the helm.

Bob Jackson, owner of the Plane View Restaurant at the airport, hung up his chef’s apron. At the end of year it was announced that the owners of Vineyard Take Out would take over the space.

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Changes in leadership due to retirements or shifts in job titles were also numerous.

Denise Schepici, president of the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, stepped down at year-end, with the organization to be guided by her second in command Claire Seguin.

Charlie Blair, who called the Edgartown harbor home and office for 30 years, retired this spring. Mr. Blair said he has worked with an estimated 300 kids over his 30 years as harbor master, even training some future police officers in town.

“It’s bittersweet but I’ve had a wonderful time,” said Mr. Blair.

Tisbury harbor master Gary Kovack was chosen in April to replace him.

Other key retirements announced included Tim Boland at Polly Hill Arboretum, Father Chip Seadale of St. Andrew’s Church, Matt Mincone the West Tisbury police chief, Melissa Hackney at the Vineyard Vision Fellowship, Chilmark fire chief Jeremy Bradshaw, Cathy Wozniak at Hospice and Palliative Care of Martha’s Vineyard, and MJ Bruder Munafo of the Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse.

Ms. Bruder Munafo had worked at the playhouse for 40 years and led the organization for the past 30 years.

“The years have flown by,” she said. “I have played many parts — as director, producer, writer, teacher, administrator — an amazing life in the theater.”

The future of the playhouse will now be in the hands of Circuit Arts, the parent organization for a host of arts programming, which includes the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival, the Vineyard Drive-In, a filmmaking division and an educational component that produces the Martha’s Vineyard Children’s Theater Camp.

Circuit Arts is run by executive director Brian Ditchfield. His wife Brooke Hardman Ditchfield, a longtime major figure in the Island’s theatre scene who also heads up the theatre program at the regional high school, will take over as artistic director of the playhouse.

“I feel like I grew up in that theatre. MJ was a mentor to me when I was young,” Mr. Ditchfield said after the announcement of the merger. “To come back in this way and help it blossom into its next stage is thrilling.”

The Island school systems will be in a state of leadership flux as key leaders shift paths. Superintendent of schools Richard Smith will be leaving the Island at the end of the school year, and so will Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School director Peter Steedman.

Regional high school principal Sean Mulvey, who took over on an interim basis after longtime principal Sara Dingledy moved to a position at the superintendent’s office, announced he will not be seeking a permanent role at the top, preferring to return to his job as a guidance counselor next year. Searches for all positions are ongoing.

The changes in top personnel at the high school come at a critical time for the institution while it seeks Island-wide approval for its renovation and addition plan. At an estimated cost of $333 million, it will potentially be the costliest building project ever on the Vineyard.

Massachusetts School Building Authority reimbursements could lower the total for Islanders to pay by about $80 million. Plans were submitted at the end of the year, but the project will need to pass an Islandwide vote tentatively scheduled for June 2, 2026.

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Developments, both big and small, were in play all year long. Navigator Homes, a hybrid housing facility for seniors, and hospital and nursing home staff, opened in June, and Stillpoint, a community gathering space led by Thomas Bena, opened its doors in January, setting the stage for numerous conversations there all year long.

Elsewhere, despite vigorous neighborhood pushback a hotel at the former Ocean View restaurant was approved, along with a nine-bedroom workforce house in Tisbury, located 97 Spring street.

Edgartown Gardens, a proposed mixed-income condominium complex with 55 apartments for owners aged 55 and older, was unanimously denied in October by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission but continues to play out in the courts, as does the potential Green Villa development in Oak Bluffs. Both projects are spearheaded by William Cumming.

Two large real estate sales made headlines in 2025. Blue Heron Farm, the Chilmark estate that had played host to President Barack Obama and the First Family, sold in July for $37 million, and a 15,000-square-foot mansion on Katama Bay sold in October for $37.5 million, making it the highest single residential sale ever on Martha’s Vineyard.

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Tragedy struck Edgartown work sites, with two workers dying on the job. In February, Jose Luis Collaguazo Crespo, of Fall River, was working at the Meshacket Commons project when he fell two stories, and Jorge Marcelo Yanza Riera, of Fall River, was working at a home on 14 Trapps Pond Road when he fell from scaffolding.

The Island also mourned the death of two-year-old Frankie Rodenbaugh who was in the care of his babysitter Aimee Cotton, who faces manslaughter charges.

In his obituary, young Frankie was described as both gentle and rugged in spirit: “He had a personality that beamed through everything he did. He asked ‘why’ constantly — not to challenge, but because he truly wanted to understand the world. His mind was always working, always learning, always full of wonder.”

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In a win for peace and quiet, five towns passed a leaf blower ban during the spring town meeting season, which states that landscapers and homeowners will have to stop using gas-powered leaf blowers by the spring of 2028.

Deeper in the woods, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation set forth a proposal to cut 175 acres of white pines in the Manuel F. Correllus State Forest. Islanders stood staunchly on both sides of the issue, and although the plan is still scheduled to go forward no action has yet been taken.

Cutting has commenced, though, in the state forest and around Tisbury in an attempt to stop the march of the devastating pine beetle. A chorus of chain saws this fall around the West Chop woods eclipsed bird song and ferry horns.

In just a two-week period, Wyatt Hamilton’s Up-Island Tree and Landscape team cut down 1,200 infested pines for homeowners in the Mink Meadows neighborhood.

“It’s really a shock,” said Mr. Hamilton. “The whole landscape is going to change.”

Ticks, which have long staked their turf in the woods, fields and beaches around the Island, have now marched boldly into backyards and bike paths as lone star ticks are not content to hang around waiting for a blood meal and often set out in search of prey.

The death of a New Jersey man on the mainland, attributed to alpha-gal, raised alarms, as did the discovery that a Vineyard infant contracted a rare and potentially lethal tick-borne virus known as Powassan. The family believed the child was bit by a tick while they were walking on a bike path in West Tisbury near their home.

The year saw several tick conferences and alpha-gal support groups gather to assess the issue. At year’s end, a new nonprofit called Tick Free MV surfaced, with the goal of reducing the tick population through several initiatives, including potentially culling the Island’s deer population, which far exceeds a manageable density.

The group is led by executive director Virginia Barbatti, a Chilmark resident who was the development director at Island Grown Initiative. Board chair Jeff Levy made headlines earlier in the year when he stepped in to save Vineyard Medical Care, purchasing the business and renaming it Martha’s Vineyard Medical, much to the relief of Islanders desperate for primary care physicians.

“I literally read the article in the paper in February that said it was in danger of going out of business. I said, oh my god, that can’t happen,” Mr. Levy said at the time.

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A look back would never be complete without a few trips aboard the Steamship Authority, not merely back and forth to the mainland, kicking back with a pretzel and a beer and checking out the view, but rather in the court of public opinion, where brisk winds and fast currents are always at play.

A year-long search for a new general manager culminated in the hiring of Alex Kryska, a West Coast ferry line executive, who takes the helm in the new year. He will be assisted by current chief operating officer Mark Amundsen, who was also a finalist for the top spot.

Mr. Kryska climbs aboard at a difficult time for the ferry line, as evidenced by a scathing report, which dropped a week before Christmas.

The 59-page report by inspector general Jeffrey Shapiro concluded that the work on a new website, started in 2022, led to a “cascade of failures” that resulted in an unacceptable waste of public resources.

Mr. Shapiro recommended that the state legislature establish a special commission to determine whether the Steamship Authority’s 65-year-old enabling legislation, which gives it local as opposed to state control, should be updated.

“Broadly, the Steamship Authority lacks a ‘tone from the top’ and has failed to create a culture that values employee input,” Mr. Shapiro wrote. “The Steamship Authority does not appear to have an ability or desire to implement a forward-thinking, strategic approach to managing projects, rather than a by-the-seat-of-your-pants reactive approach.”

In the wake of the report, Jim Malkin, the Vineyard’s Steamship representative, announced he was withdrawing his candidacy for a third term on the board of governors.

“I appreciate the tremendous support I have received from the County and so many Islanders and I wish the appointing authority success in finding a strong candidate who can navigate the cross currents of interest and opinion that was along our shores,” Mr. Malkin wrote, following his decision.

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Amidst the turmoil of national politics, infrastructure on the brink and leadership musical chairs, the highs and lows of regular life felt like a balm, or at least a creative conversation partner not looking to proselytize about politics or swap doom-scrolling addictions.

In the arts, Geraldine Brooks published a remarkable memoir entitled Memorial Days, about her late husband Tony Horwitz who died suddenly of a heart condition in 2019.

“So many people on the Island knew and loved Tony, so I’m sure it will be special for them to reconnect with him,” Ms. Brooks told a Gazette reporter.

The Martha’s Vineyard Book Festival featured Ms. Brooks as a panelist as it played host to authors near and far. The biennial affair brought with it a national slant, hosting Jeffrey Goldberg, editor in chief of The Atlantic, in a panel with journalist Ashley Parker entitled Signal vs. Noise: Covering This Presidency.

Award-winning filmmaker Stanley Nelson premiered his new film We Want the Funk! at the Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival, along with hosting a screening at the festival of his 2004 film A Place of Our Own, his most personal film about the Island.

Made shortly after the death of his mother, the A Place of Our Own lifts up the Black experience in Oak Bluffs, where he spent his summers and currently spends much of his time.

“It’s also a film about Martha’s Vineyard, and the beauty of Martha’s Vineyard, in so many ways... and how we grew up here,” Mr. Nelson said. “It was special. It’s always special.”

On the sports fields, the boys and girls soccer teams made deep runs in the playoffs, as did the boys tennis team. But it was the girls tennis team that traveled the farthest, all the way to the state finals, before losing to Dover-Sherborn in the final match. With only three seniors in the starting seven graduating, look to the girls team to make some serious noise again in 2026.

The boys’ swim team won their second consecutive Cape and Islands League championship, and senior captain Kaua De Assis broke numerous school records during the season.

In golf, Jacoby Light achieved a top-25 finish in the state tournament. Camille Brand continued to leap into the record books in the high jump, and boys hockey player Hunter Johnson achieved the 100-point club, joining his teammate Nate Averill, who met the milestone in December of 2024.

But sports are known for taking as well as giving, such is the state of play in heated competition. In a decision that devastated not just the team but the Island at large, the Island Cup football game against Nantucket was canceled this year, due to injuries and disciplinary actions that left the team lacking and at risk of more injuries.

“I know the timing isn’t ideal because it’s the Island Cup,” said head coach Tony Mottola. “My job is to have the safety of the kids in the forefront.... We obviously felt as a staff that this was the right thing to do.”

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Oddities abounded too, as is fitting for an Island that celebrates its characters, both human and in the natural world. A dead alligator was found in May at the Sepiessa Point Reservation in West Tisbury, its origins still unknown, and a female rufous hummingbird was spotted in November, the first-ever Island sighting of a bird who usually prefers to spend its winters in Mexico.

A Betty White postage stamp was designed by seasonal artist Dale Stephanos, and one of the three inventors of Ultimate Frisbee turned out to be a seasonal resident. A game of ultimate was played at the high school with local enthusiasts and the two surviving inventors, Jon Hynes of Edgartown and Joel Silver, a major Hollywood producer.

But perhaps strangest of all was a fracas at the farmers’ market that centered around the humble pierogi. When Alan Dershowitz was denied service due to his politics and who he chooses to represent (including OJ Simpson and Jeffery Epstein) by the purveyor of Good Pierogi, the combative lawyer and longtime Vineyarder threatened legal action. Pierogi-gate made national headlines but by summer’s end had faded from view, the news cycle already washed, rinsed and looking for something tastier.

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Through all the highs and lows of the year, big anniversaries sustained the Island.

The Vineyard Trust turned 50 years old this year. The Trust acquires, maintains and preserves over 20 historic buildings and businesses on the Island, including the Flying Horses, the Grange Hall, Union Chapel and the Dr. Daniel Fisher House, to name just a few.

Morning Glory Farm celebrated five decades as an anchor of the Island’s agrarian community. Started in 1975 by Jim and Debbie Athearn, the farm continues to shine in the hands of the ever-growing Athearn Family.

The Gazette’s Goss Press also turned 50, still reliably turning out weekly print runs of the 179-year-old broadsheet.

But perhaps the biggest, or at least the hungriest, 50-year-old this summer, was Jaws, the movie that both changed Hollywood, as it ushered in the tradition of the summer blockbuster, and the Vineyard, as it put the Island on the map as a must-visit destination. Gatherings and reunions, an award-winning exhibit at the museum, screenings, a Broadway play, Richard Dreyfuss, and a host of Islanders whose lives were changed by taking part in the filming, were all part of the ongoing celebration.

“Here’s where I died,” said Jeffrey Voorhees, now 62 years old, to a Gazette reporter this summer, pointing to an area off State Beach on the Oak Bluffs side of the Jaws bridge. Mr. Voorhees was a local Vineyard kid when he was tapped to play the doomed Alex Kintner, the young boy seen floating serenely on his raft then disappeared in a sea of red blood as the second Jaws victim.

Mr. Voorhees, who was the longtime manager of the Wharf in Edgartown, said for a long time he avoided any potential celebrity but eventually gave over to it and now travels the world to various Jaws conventions.

“It’s fun,” he said. “You get some real Jaws fanatics and you make their day. . . Some people are so happy.”

The oldest anniversary celebration went to the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby, which turned 80 years old this summer. The name has remained the same, although stripers have been off the derby list for many years due to declining numbers. Proof yet again, that traditions can bend but not break when given the proper love and care.

Sam Bell took the top prize, winning a new boat, but as any fisherman will tell you, the real prize is simply being a part of the derby community, one that relishes a collective fishing fever each fall that doesn’t let up until the final cast.

Maryanne Jerome, one of this year’s inductees into the derby hall of fame, put it best during her acceptance speech in which she referenced her husband Ed Jerome, a longtime derby president who died in 2018.

“[Ed] always stated that this tournament is more than just a fishing tournament and he was so right,” she said. “The journey teaches sportsmanship, a passion for the environment, teamwork, volunteering, giving back to your community, but most of all and most especially, spending cherished time with family and friends.”

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In summing up the year, Ms. Jerome’s words lifted up how community and goodwill are the heart of the human condition. But for those looking for more words of wisdom in the new year, here is Peter Brannen, a former Gazette reporter who published his second book this year entitled The Story of CO2 Is the Story of Everything. Both Mr. Brannen’s books take on the theme of extinction.

“I’m a short-term pessimist and a long-term optimist, because it’s hard to squint at anything in the world today and be encouraged about how things are going,” Mr. Brannen said in an interview this summer. “But I think eventually humans will find a more sustainable way to live on this planet, because either we will do it proactively ourselves, or the planet will make us.”

Ready or not, here comes 2026.