A Jazz Tribute to President Obama, an original work of words and music by Columbia Law School professor and columnist for The Nation Patricia Williams and composer and saxophonist Oliver Lake, will be performed on Saturday, July 25, at 4 p.m. in Ocean Park as the centerpiece of Della Hardman Day. The performance is free and open to the public.

Water Tasting

The annual Water Tasting to benefit Vineyard House will be tonight, Friday, July 17, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Captain Flanders house on North Road in Chilmark.

All are welcome at this ever-popular fundraiser. For a suggested donation of $50 at the door, patrons will enjoy hors d’oeurve by Jan Buhrman’s Kitchen Porch, music from Johnny Hoy and the Bluefish and from the Flying Elbows as well as silent and live auctions.

Chilmark Party

For the second year in a row, the Walsh family is opening their home on Middle Road in Chilmark for a fundraiser, on Thursday, July 23, to benefit Compassionate Care ALS, a nonprofit organization that helps ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) patients and their families.

There will be live and silent auctions, with dinner from the Oyster Bar Grill and music by Johnny Hoy and the Bluefish.

Tom (Dilly) Walsh was diagnosed with ALS in 2007.

Vineyard House Benefit Set to Slake

Vineyard House will be holding their 12th annual Water Tasting event on Friday, July 17 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Captain Flanders house on North Road in Chilmark.

The Hungry Ghost

This weekend, the Portuguese American Club on Vineyard avenue in Oak Bluffs hosts the annual Feast of the Holy Ghost. An old Azorean tradition of sharing food, music and games, the feast is celebrated throughout New England. The Holy Ghost Club of Martha’s Vineyard has hosted one of the finest every July since the 1920s. The feast starts Saturday at 5:30 p.m. Catch the parade at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday. For details, call 508-693-9875.

Compassionate Care ALS represents a new, or perhaps ancient, approach to medicine. Focusing on health care rather than disease treatment, the Cape-based nonprofit seeks to improve the quality of life of people who have ALS. This degenerative and irreversible nerve decay was made famous by Lou Gehrig and then Stephen Hawking. Doctors can do little to treat it or slow its progress ive destruction, even as the mind and senses remain.